


The Oppression Engine

by pen_and_umbra



Category: Gentleman Jack (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Space Opera, Anal Fingering, Angst and Fluff and Smut, Arranged Marriage, Coal Mining Talk, Dirty Talk, Explicit Sexual Content, F/F, IN SPACE!, Lesbians in Space, Light Bondage, Masturbation, Mild Hurt/Comfort, Non-Consensual Touching, Orbital Mechanics, Plot, Power Play, Strap-Ons, Suspense, Swearing, Technobabble, so much filth
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-11-25
Updated: 2019-12-07
Packaged: 2021-02-26 03:33:48
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 15
Words: 37,708
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21557065
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/pen_and_umbra/pseuds/pen_and_umbra
Summary: It’s April of 2832 and in the mining town Ganymede One, on the third moon of Jupiter, life is hard and dangerous. Anne of clan Lister wants to open a new promethium mine and to fund it, she is forced to sign an Arrangement with the Rawson-Walker clan. The catch? In accordance with ancient Ganymedean bylaws, the Arrangement stipulates a marriage to seal the pact between the clans.Ann, formerly of clan Walker, finds herself at Shibden Hall on Ganymede, married to its dark and enigmatic owner. What will her life be like in this arranged marriage? And why does she feel both frightened and strangely curious about the way her new wife looks at her?
Relationships: Anne Lister (1791-1840)/Ann Walker (1803-1854)
Comments: 437
Kudos: 582





	1. Prologue - 11 Years Prior

**Author's Note:**

> I am forever indebted to my fabulous co-creator **SerButterTop** , without whom this space exploration romp would never have happened. Original story idea from **DuhHappens** though I'm sure this was not what she intended! 
> 
> Please read the tags. It's a fuckton of NSFW.
> 
> This story is complete at 38k words (sheeish) and new chapters will be posted at least daily.

_ IGV Crow Nest _

_ Geosynchronous orbit above Titan, sixth moon of Saturn _

_ March 3, 2821 _

Ann Walker sat down for dinner with her family, not knowing her life was about to change forever.

Dinner was reconstructed protein, rice, and hydroponically grown mushrooms, well spiced and fragrant in the recycled atmosphere of the  _ Crow Nest,  _ her clan’s flagship _. _ Ann ate without much enthusiasm, letting conversation around her flow unheard. When she was almost done, the airlock klaxon sounded.

Jeremiah Rawson, at the table on Ann’s right, glanced at his wrist display. He stood up abruptly and said, “It’s the  _ Lightcliffe.” _

Ann stood up as well, her heart in her throat.  _ Lightcliffe  _ was the Walker-Rawson trade mission ship but they were back a day early from Ganymede. Had something gone wrong with the negotiations with the Lister clan? Her sister Elizabeth had gone with the negotiators, her first official excursion as a junior navigator; Ann had wanted to go as well but she was not yet of age. 

When Ann got to the airlock corridor, she saw Catherine Rawson, her cousin. “What’s going on?”

Before Catherine could answer, the airlock opened with a loud hiss. Through it poured in a cacophonous, dirty group of negotiators, their Walker blue livery torn and singed. Amidst the armoured guards that followed them were prisoners. Ann stared at the group, appalled. She couldn’t see her sister but she hoped she was just concealed in the middle of the pack.

“The negotiations were an ambush,” Catherine whispered into Ann’s ear.

As Ann watched, the whole noisy crowd tramped off to the bowels of the ship, towards the gathering hall and the brigs. Ann could smell the residual sulphur and rocket propellant that remained in the air after them.

“An ambush?” she asked, grasping her cousin by the arm.

“Yes,” Catherine said nervously. “I read the mission logs just now. In the middle of dinner, they were surrounded. Our people overpowered Lister’s men and escaped with a few prisoners.”

Ann’s blood ran cold and she squeezed Catherine’s arm harder. “Were there casualties?”

“None. We got lucky.” Catherine glanced at her and smiled reassuringly. “Elizabeth is all right.”

Ann gave Catherine a quick nod and hurried off to find her sister.

* * *

Ann found her older sister in the gathering hall, scuffed and wide-eyed but otherwise intact. She hugged Elizabeth hard and tears sprang to her eyes.

“Oh, I’m so glad you’re alive and well!”

Elizabeth’s arms around her tightened and Ann could feel her rapid heartbeat. “It was a close call, Ann. So close. We escaped by the skin of our teeth. This was...unprecedented.”

“What will happen to the prisoners?”

Elizabeth let go and sat down heavily. “They will be ransomed, I think. We got very lucky there, too.” She glanced up at Ann. “Everyone’s busy with debriefings now. I’ll see that our people are fed, will you take some food down to the brig?”

Ann frowned. “Why me?”

Elizabeth smiled bashfully. “Well, Christopher told me to do it but, oh Ann… I am dead on my feet. I want a shower and a bed, yesterday. Please? Pretty please?”

“All right,” Ann said and patted her big sister on the cheek. “You need to go rest. I’ll take the brig.”

Ann found a few rations, water, and some clean rags. Descending into the brig at the lowest level of  _ Crow Nest, _ her heart was in her throat. She had rarely been there because it had been a long period of peace; apart from the occasional drunken worker, there were rarely occupants in the cells. Now, all that had changed.

The cell block smelled strongly of sulphur compounds and hot metal. Ann recognised it as the residue of railgun fire and it chilled her. She stopped at the first cell and peeked in through the bars. Her breath caught in her throat. 

She knew this woman, had seen her image in the news so many times. And here she was, in person.

Anne Lister was second in command of clan Lister. She was sitting on the floor of her cell, back against the wall, heavy boots crossed at the ankle. Clad in her formalwear, the tall white collar of her shirt constricted by an elaborate black cravat and the many layers of her black coats and cloak pooling around her, she looked calm and regal - even with her severe hairdo askew and half her face a bloodied mess. 

Lister was cleaning blood from underneath her fingernails with a plastic fork when she noticed Ann. Her gaze, when it found Ann, was dark and hard and clear. Ann was rooted to the spot by it.

“Oh, don’t worry. Most of this isn’t mine.” Lister paused and stretched her neck. “Sorry about your guard, though.”

“It’s…”

“Mostly his blood, yes. He foolishly resisted.”

Ann had heard many rumours about this woman, about her abject cruelty and her ruthless treatment of men that had tried to cross her. Much of it must have been exaggerations, Ann thought, since her clan had a habit of maliciously gossiping about all the notable families from Mars Major to the farthest reaches of Ganymede. Secretly, Ann thought it stemmed from jealousy; her family was not one that could claim land and nobility from the times of the Terran Empire.

”What’s your name?”

”Uh, I’m A-Ann,” she stammered. ”Can… can I get you a rag? And some food?”

”Please.”

Lister wiped her face clean with the wet rag Ann gave her and then poked at her food unenthusiastically. After a bite, Lister pushed the tray aside and then looked back at Ann. Her dark eyes stared with a mix of boredom and curiosity. Ann found it enthralling; rarely had someone, anyone looked at her with any sort of interest.

“Well, Ann of clan Walker. Would you like some free advice?”

“Uh, what?”

Lister’s smile was very white and very wicked. It caught Ann unawares and she stood breathless, suddenly mesmerised by this woman. “You seem like a nice little girl. Nice girls don’t do well in the brig. Stay away from here from now on.”

Ann blinked and, feeling a strange frisson of fear, stepped to the next cell. The other two occupants at the brig were men, similarly dressed in their black formalwear, tall collars now torn and their finery stained with soot and dirt and blood. Food delivered, Ann fled the brig.

The ship’s main corridor was empty and cool, the air clean of smells. Ann sat down at a bench and leaned against the tapestry that had been hung on the wall. Her heart was hammering in her chest and she did not understand why.

Suddenly, the deck under her feet vibrated and a deafening sound came from below the deck. Her ears ringing. Ann stood up and then the proximity alert blared, shrill and high, closely followed by the impact warning alert. The whole of  _ Crow Nest _ lurched and shuddered. Lights flickered and the artificial gravity went on and off, so quickly that Ann had time to stumble before she caught herself.

Elizabeth ran past, stumbling as well, and Ann caught her arm. “What is it, Liz?”

“There’s been an explosion on the brig deck,” her elder sister said, eyes wide and wild. “And I think we’re being fired upon. From somewhere.” 

Ann rushed to the nearest porthole, anxiously staring into the dark interstellar space. She didn’t understand what was going on until  _ Crow Nest  _ rotated and she saw the dark bulk of  _ IGV Fury Engine _ come into view from behind Titan. Even at this distance the Lister clan flagship was an ominous shape, its shielding shimmering gold in the wan light reflecting off Saturn.

Ice shot through Ann’s veins. The prisoners and explosion were a diversion. This was the actual trap. 


	2. Good to Be King

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “Well now,” Lister murmured. “Little Miss Walker, not so little any more. This is highly unexpected.”

_ Shibden Hall _

_ Ganymede, third moon of Jupiter _

_ April 18, 2832 _

Anne of clan Lister curled the letter around her fingers and sat back. She was tired. Tired and amused. She wished the chairs in her cavernous formal reception room were more comfortable. 

“Ms Rawson. Madam. Are you seriously invoking a century-old Terran Empire custom?”

The Rawson matriarch frowned, her face creasing into even more wrinkles than before. “The Arrangement is still part of the Independent Ganymede bylaws, a lovely relic of the benevolent Terran Empire rule of yesteryear. I thought you are quite fond of the olden days.” She paused for an insincere smile. “I wish to put this destructive conflict behind us, that’s all. And you are the head of your clan now.”

Lister pointed at her with the rolled plastipaper. “May I remind you that it was your clan who started this nasty business?”

Rawson made a displeased sound in her throat. “Let’s not go there or I’m liable to revisit that dirty trap you pulled on us back in 2821.”

“Oh, let’s revisit ancient things. That was one of my better capers.”

“We’re now much better at strip searching our prisoners,” Rawson said and gave Lister a look. “The bottom line is, you have a new promethium vein and the tools, but mining is an expensive business. You need men, mechanics, shipping containers, contacts. Should we not combine forces, rather than keep stealing from one another?”

“You mean, rather than your feckless sons stealing my promethium? Like they’ve been trying to do since last year?”

Rawson grinned and gestured at the scenery outside the large scenic windows. “It’s right there for the taking. Your land, our money. We cannot lose.”

Lister sighed and focused on the landscape. The thick window made the Ganymedean scenery seem like a painting, dim mountains beyond the lakes of ammonia and the deep gorges of tidal heating seasons long past. It was a painting in sad greys, offset by the enormous red bulk of Jupiter that filled the sky. Lister loved the view. This was her ancestral land, harsh and unyielding in the farthest reaches of the inhabited solar system. Her land.

But yes, there was truth in Rawson’s words. The promethium was there for the taking but hurrying it to the surface profitably was an expensive, dangerous business. It would take money she did not have.

Lister unrolled the letter and read it again.

_ Mistress Lister, _

_ I will call upon you for tea tomorrow, you and I, for I wish to discuss an Arrangement between our families. I feel certain that you will find my proposal intriguing and worthy of your consideration. _

_ Send regrets only; I expect to arrive before 11 Ganymede morning time. _

_ Yours, _

_ Madam Ann of clan Rawson _

“Why do you propose an Arrangement, a marriage? Surely an ordinary contract would do.” But of course, as soon as the words came from her mouth, Lister knew why: ordinary contracts could and would get broken. And so they had been, many times in the long shared history of the two clans, sometimes even violently. 

“Those damnable foolish sons of mine think they have the measure of you. Oh, Christopher!” Rawson said with a pleased, raspy laugh. “Such a ridiculous peacock. Strutting around, never realising his tail feathers have been trampled until he’s left bare-arsed! I want to take the wind out of their sails.”

Lister smiled. The shared history between her and the Rawson matriarch was long and convoluted but it had never lacked in mutual respect - though the vulgarity of the Rawsons never ceased to surprise her. Then again, what can one expect from a family whose name was built solely on trade?

“Will they honour the Arrangement, then? Your sons?”

“They will. I may be a woman, my dear, but like yourself I am not to be underestimated. My sons know better than to cross me. I rule this clan’s business and will continue to do so until I am cold in the ground. 

“Does it have to be this girl, though? She’s…”  _ No oil painting, _ Lister thought to herself but did not say out loud. “Quite ordinary, if I recall.”

There was a glint in Rawson’s eye. She sipped her tea primly and said, “She is the heir to the Walker fortune. And a member of my extended clan, so she’s the most suitable.”

“And you want to give her to me. Why?”

Rawson pressed her lips together so hard they turned white. Lister thought she looked like a toad. “Because otherwise she will be married off to some spineless fortune hunter who will spend all of our… hm, well, her money on gambling and intoxicants. At least with you, the money will do something for both our clans.”

Lister leaned her elbow on the table and propped her fist under her chin. “I knew you’ve always been fond of me. I didn’t realise you were this fond,” she said, taunting.

“Consider yourself the least bad of all bad choices,” Rawson said and eyed her teacup distastefully. “And consider that this also provides you… companionship that you and I both know you so desire for yourself.”

“I have companions.”

“Were I a lesser woman, Mistress Lister, I would be insulted for my niece to be compared to the harlots of Voyager Bay.”

Lister made an amused moue. “Unpaid companions.”

“I know the stories my men have heard in the whorehouses. I have no doubt you really are skilled enough that they warm your bed for free,” Rawson said and set her tea cup down. She stood up. “Will you consider my proposal?”

Lister tossed the letter on the table; it rolled across its vast stone expanse and stopped at the statue at the centre of it. She looked out again, at the beautiful hostile landscape. She had dealt in the blood and greed and scars of this wild frontier for so long, dragging her noble clan from obscurity to prominence. What was this but yet another stepping stone, a chance to dip her hand in someone else’s gold?

“I will. Send me the official paperwork.”

The Rawson matriarch clapped her hands, the voluminous sleeves of her purple formal gown fluttering. “Excellent. Walk me to my shuttle?”

Lister stood up and took her tea cup with her - ancient bone porcelain, family heirlooms from centuries back. Sipping her tea, Lister smiled into the cup; she had picked this set on purpose. She so loved rubbing it in Rawson’s face that her clan was the upstart here with none of the nobility of the ancient houses of the outer planets. It went without saying that the Rawsons and Walkers wanted the Arrangement also for the prestige of the Lister name.

The cavernous front hall of Shibden was full of people, half of them Rawson’s entourage and the other half Lister’s men keeping an eye on the entourage. Stopping at the top of the stairs, Lister shook the Rawson matriarch’s hand but did not follow her down the stairs. She watched Rawson descend the wide stone stairs and then she let her gaze wander amongst the entourage. And then Lister spotted her.

“Well well well,” Lister muttered to herself. “You cunning cunt, you brought her here on purpose, didn’t you. To show her off.”

Indeed, by the far wall, separated from the rest of the crowd, stood Ann Walker. She looked uncomfortable in her Walker blue formal gown; she was pulling the generous neckline up with her hands, the tension in her shoulders palpable. But oh, she had grown up. Lister fingered the rim of her teacup and leaned against the balustrade, suddenly interested.

From her brief stay in the  _ Crow Nest  _ brig when she had allowed herself to be captured, the Ann Walker she remembered had been a gangly, spotty teenager. This Ann, however, was anything but. Her voluminous blonde hair was loose and curled in ringlets around a face that was, in a word, sublime. Her delicate features, from the pale rose of her lips to the perfect curve of her blonde eyebrows, were perfectly arranged. Lister smiled, her gaze tracing the long expanse of Ann’s neck, milky and perfect. So lovely.

As if sensing Lister’s hot gaze on her, Ann looked up. Lister met her eyes, unblinking. Ann’s eyes were a fetching shade of blue. Lister downed the rest of her tea and then stepped back into the reception room. She put the tea cup down on the table and fingered her tall collar. She felt a smile come to her lips, unbidden. 

“Well now,” Lister murmured. “Little Miss Walker, not so little any more. This is highly unexpected.”

* * *

Ann felt the flush that crept up her chest and her embarrassment over it was making it worse. She placed her hand on her chest and closed her eyes. Anne Lister’s hard gaze on her seemed to burn on her skin.

It had been eleven years since their last encounter. Ann was certain Lister had forgotten all about her but Ann remembered it vividly. It had been the day her innocence had died when her home had been attacked so savagely. It had taken her clan years to recover from the attack financially and in reputation, they still had not recovered. 

Ann drew in a shuddering breath and opened her eyes. Lister was now gone from the upper landing. She had looked so dangerous, so unapproachable in the formal collars of her long black jacket and the burnished gloss of her trousers and tall boots. Her dark hair in a severe braid and the gleaming, complicated grey cravat that concealed her throat had done nothing to dispel the air of impregnable distance, of the savage power that simmered right behind those dark eyes. Ann felt… uneasy. 

It was a relief when Jeremiah Rawson took her arm and guided her through the airlock to their ground transport vehicle. 

“Ann. Come talk with me,” the Rawson matriarch said and pulled her by the arm to the far end of the cabin. ”We’ll be in Cliff Hill soon and I have a private matter that concerns you.”

Ann sat next to her aunt by marriage, squashed against the vast expanses of her purple pleated dress. “What is it?”

“Well, Ann. I’ve made an Arrangement with Mistress Lister of Shibden. Regarding you.”

Ann frowned at the formal words. “What sort of an arrangement?”

"A legal one. You are to marry her and thus unite our two families.” Aunt Rawson took Ann’s hand. “In accordance to the Arrangement laws.”

Ann snatched her hand away and pressed it to her mouth. She was terrified, appalled; fear suffused her insides. Her family had always worked with strategic marriages but she had never considered it would be something she would be subjected to. “No! Why… I mean, why me? Why her? She’s…  _ horrible.” _

Rawson made a series of amused faces before she started laughing. “Oh Ann,” she chuckled. “If only you could see your face. Why did you think we were visiting her?”

“Uh, a normal courtesy call? Trade negotiations?”

“Pfft,” Rawson said and waved her purple-gloved hand. “I leave that dull business to Christopher. And she is by no means horrible.”

“She is!”

“How would you know? Ann, this benefits us all! We get a good dose of Lister prestige, we gain access to her promethium beds,” Rawson said and smiled as if she’d made a private joke. “And this means you don’t have to marry a man.”

Ann opened her mouth, closed it, and then opened it again. She was blushing furiously. “Auntie, what are you…”

“Oh Ann, I’m old but not witless. I see the way you look at the men who come calling for you. I have a feeling that you are, hm, disinclined to marry any of them. Or have I misread you, my love?”

Her blush intensifying, Ann sat back and looked at the ceiling. It was dark grey and had grit gathered at the corners - the eternal battle of man versus Ganymede’s silicate dust. Relief warred with outrage in her; she felt appalled that this marriage had been arranged without a word to her but then again… Ann sighed. If this meant she didn’t have to marry any of the smarmy slobs that sidled up to her regularly, well, that was good.

"I suppose it’s a done deal.”

“As soon as Lister signs the contract, yes.”

Ann exhaled and closed her eyes. Her fate had never been her own, but this was a path she had not anticipated it taking. The matriarch held all the power in her clan and were she to say no, she would be ostracised, thrown out of her family home. She was trapped between a rock and a hard place.

And, well, how bad could it really be? Ann chewed the inside of her mouth, thinking. There would be no man demanding attention from her, no lecherous dullard who would force himself on her. It would be a boring life, Ann anticipated, chaste and lonely. Better that than being the unwilling plaything of a man who married her for her money and her body.

Ann opened her eyes and looked at her aunt. “Is there to be a wedding?”

“Of course. All the necessary customs and traditions must be adhered to.”

Ann hugged herself. She felt very lonely. “Of course.”


	3. Climbing Up These Mountains

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “Just… don’t think of her as a piece of money-dispensing furniture, Anne.” 
> 
> NSFW. Read the tags.

Lister fingered her wine glass. Her teeth were set on edge with the combination of music and the drunken laughter of various Rawsons, the din deafening. The formal room of Shibden Hall was slightly too small to hold this many people for dinner but of course, courtesy and societal norms had dictated the guest list for the wedding - a sampling of Ganymede’s old houses and then the Rawson-Walker clan. The upstarts.

As she glanced around the room, she found that most Rawsons and Walkers present were grinning like fools, some looking like they could not believe the change in their social standing. Lister gritted her teeth. Bloody arrivistes.

Draining her glass, Lister gestured at a nearby servant who filled it again. The wine was of course not the genuine article but instead, a clever distilled concoction dreamed up by scientists - the nearest thing to old Earth wine they could have here, in the far reaches of the solar system. No Walker money had been spared with this reception. Lister smiled at that thought and sipped the ‘wine’.

“I suppose congratulations are in order.”

Lister glanced at her side. It was her sister Marian, ever dour in her taupe formals, a drink in her hand and the corners of her mouth drooping downward. “I suppose so.”

I can’t believe you got married to… that,” Marian said and gestured vaguely towards the head table. Ann Walker was sitting there, having a quiet chat with Lister’s Aunt Anne. “Or rather, that she wanted to get married to you.”

“I don’t think anyone asked her,” Lister said and sipped her wine. Ann Walker was laughing, her head close to Aunt Anne’s, who looked positively giggly. 

“And you are at peace with that?”

Lister shrugged. “Ancient customs have their uses.”

Marian made an outraged sound. “So you’re going to take her money and put her up in a room here in this awful place, and that’s it? This is callous, even for you, Anne.”

“What do you know about business, Marian? Nothing.” Lister turned fully to her sister, baring her teeth. “You benefit from this arrangement, too. You live in my house, eat my food, drink my wine, all of which have been paid by my enterprise. Mine, not yours.”

Marian gave a long-suffering sigh. “This is our house, remember. All I’m saying is that this Ann Walker is a person. Seemingly a lovely girl. You should treat her like she’s a human being.” 

“She’s a Lister now, Marian,” Anne hissed. She felt a pang of unease at the thought.

“Just… don’t think of her as a piece of money-dispensing furniture, Anne.”

With that, Marian left. Lister looked at her retreating back for a moment before re-focusing on the head table. 

She really was quite lovely, this grown-up Ann. Lister sipped her wine, feeling its warmth suffuse her throat and slide down into her stomach. In her formal wedding whites, the girl looked pale and ethereal; she was smiling at Aunt Anne in a way that lit up her whole face. 

Lister leaned against the pillar next to her and tilted her head. She gazed at the long slope of Ann’s throat and shoulder, the shadows of her collarbones. Lister bit her lower lip, feeling her insides twist in sudden delicious want. She was consumed with an ache to taste and feel all of that exposed skin, to see for herself if it was as heavenly as she imagined it to be. And then chase that barest swell of her breasts, visible at the neckline, into the bodice to see the shape of the rest of her.

Pushing her way through the throng, stopped by greetings and well-wishers, Lister arrived at the head table. Now, at the end of the dinner, almost everyone was mingling or sitting in seats not their own but curiously, no-one had dared to take Lister’s seat. She sat down in it, next to Ann.

Lister glanced around. The four walls of the reception room were almost completely made of duraglass and the dark, melancholy landscape around the vast estate was near invisible in the bright lights of the room. In the room, the scenery was dominated by the ridiculousness and riotous colours of formalwear on the dozens of celebrants present, the tall collars and imaginative shapes of their hats dictated by fashion and ancient Terran traditions alike. In the crowd, Lister saw new alliances built, friendships strained, perhaps new lovers finding each other. She knew the party would go on until the Ganymedean morning, many hours onwards, and once again high society would emerge from it slightly, imperceptibly changed. 

“Enjoying yourself?” Lister asked and tilted her head towards Ann.

Ann started and turned to Lister. Lister looked at her; she was even more lovely this close, pale pink lips and a faint flush on her cheeks. There was fear in her eyes and in the frown between her eyebrows when she looked at Lister.

They hadn’t had time to exchange more than two words that day - the contract signings had happened between Lister and the Rawson matriarch. This was the first time Lister actually sat down with her new… wife. She exhaled at the thought. 

“I’m…” Ann said and trailed off. She cast her eyes to her lap. Lister could see the rapid rise and fall of her chest as she breathed. 

Lister smiled and she knew it was not a kind smile. “Am I that terrifying?”

Ann looked at her, a measure of boldness in her pale eyes. Lister found the combination thrilling, shy and defiant at the same time. “You can be. We… I’ve heard stories.”

“Many of them exaggerated, I’m sure. But some not.”

“Well, which ones are not?”

Lister pursed her lips. “I’m not needlessly cruel, if that’s what you’re asking.”

"Does one ever need to be cruel?”

“In this business, here at the far end of known civilised worlds? Yes.”

Ann flinched at Lister’s hissing sibilant and looked away, her throat working as she swallowed. Unable to resist the temptation any longer, Lister leaned closer. She trailed her nose along Ann’s bare shoulder. Ann’s skin was deliciously smooth and faintly scented with an indescribable, light perfume. Lister found it intoxicating.

“What… what are you doing?”

Lister ghosted her lips over the peak of Ann’s shoulder and then looked up at her. “You are my wife now. Did none of your numerous cousins and aunts explain what that means?”

Colour drained from Ann’s face. Abruptly, she stood up and fled the room, her white dress trailing behind her. 

“Hm. That went well,” Lister muttered to herself and sat back. For this one, it seemed she needed to be uncommonly and fastidiously delicate in leading her into her own ways.

Lister signalled a servant for more wine. 

* * *

As soon as the doors closed behind her, Ann slumped against the wall in her room. All day long, she had been numb, her body suffused with unnamed dread. 

The formal wedding gown, her family heirloom, constricted her waist and left her breathless. Ann struggled with the ties of the corset behind her back but could not undo the knots herself. Giving up with a frustrated groan, she crossed the room and sat on the daybed in the large bay window, not caring if her dress got rumpled. She kicked off her shoes and pulled her feet up on the cushions.

The view outside was not towards the Lister land but instead, it gave a breathtaking view of Ganymede One, the main cluster of habitation on the moon. In the distance, she could see the multicoloured lights of Voyager Bay, the seedier side of the town; between it and Shibden Hall were blocks and blocks of habitat structures as well as a handful of the larger estates, ventilation and storage spires guarding over vast sprawls of ad-hoc buildings - some larger, some smaller. All structures were made of the same material, local chondrite-silicate sand compressed to pale grey bricks. Lights shone through windows but most of the landscape was illuminated only by the endless starfield above.

Ann touched her shoulder, the ghost of Lister’s lips still there. The touch had burned her like a brand, unexpected and uncomfortable. 

After a moment of searching, Ann found Cliff Hill, her family estate, in the urban sprawl of Ganymede One; it seemed so far away, both figuratively and in reality. She shivered from unnamed emotion, the stress of the day slowly draining from her. 

Closing her eyes, she pictured Lister again, in her all black clothes and her hair up in a severe braided twist, so close to her. The many tight layers of her coats and vests, the gleaming black cravat strangling her throat so thoroughly, her scent where the smell of hot machinery mixed with something faint and delicate, perhaps rosemary - all of her appearance seemed to be so calculated to intimidate. 

Ann leaned against the windowsill. What had she got herself into?

She must have dozed off for when Ann woke to the sound of her room door opening, she felt groggy and off-kilter. The room was shadowed; they were just coming out of the Ganymedean night that lasted three Terran days.

“Who is it?” 

“It’s me.”

Ann sat up, her heart in her throat. It was Lister, briefly silhouetted against the corridor lights before the door closed again.

“What…” Ann started and swallowed. Her mouth was dry. “What are you doing here?”

Lister stepped into the wan pool of light. She was holding a glass, the wine in it appearing almost black in the shadow. She was no longer in her formal coats but instead, just her black trousers and white undershirt, collars undone and cravat gone. Lister’s hair was also down from its severe braids; it was dark and straight, softly fanned across her shoulders like streaks of ink against the white shirt. 

“You disappeared from the reception”, Lister said and stepped even closer. “The computer told me you came to your room.”

Ann stood and smoothed her suddenly perspiring palms against her dress. “I must’ve dozed off.” She tilted her head and felt it creak from her awkward nap position. “What time is it?”

Lister glanced back at the door, a smile on her lips. “Very late. The party will go on for several hours still.”

Ann shivered and looked down at the floor. Lister was standing very close; Ann could smell the wine on her breath and the leather of her boots. She did not seem as intimidating as before. She looked… Ann glanced up and felt a mix of emotions. In this tipsy, disarrayed, casual state, Lister was really quite a handsome woman. The wan light burnished her skin, highlighting the planes of her high cheekbones, the light gleaming in her dark eyes. Eyes that were staring at Ann.

“Why are you here?” Ann asked again, even though she did not want to know, not really. She could not think of answers that would be anything but terrifying.

“Take off your clothes.”

Ann’s breath caught in her throat. Dread suffused her limbs. “What?”

Lister tilted her head, still gazing at Ann steadily. “I said, take off your clothes. Now.”

“But… why?”

Lister laughed, and it was not a kind laugh. Her teeth were very white in the dim light. “You are my wife now, Ann of clan Lister. I want to see you. All of you.”

Ann’s blood went cold.  _ Ann Lister.  _ That was her now. She looked down at the stone floor, feeling trapped and afraid. What did Lister mean to do with her? To her? Ann had heard of  _ those _ stories as well, that Lister could not be trusted in the company of women. Surely she did not mean to… Ann looked back up, horrified.

“What do you mean to do?”

“Nothing that’s not expected of a wedding night,” Lister said evenly. She gestured with her wine glass. “Come now. Turn around.”

Ann did as told and held her breath as she felt Lister’s hands deftly untie her corset and then help her dress off her shoulders, hard fingers skittering across skin. Ann stepped out of the dress and straightened, now clad only in her knickers.

“Everything, Ann.”

Ann exhaled, shivering from adrenaline and her hammering heartbeat. Her mind was wavering on whether she should resist, scream, run… or whether it was easier just to let Lister have her way. Whatever that was to be. She felt a sliver of gratitude that at least this wasn’t a man, foul-smelling and drunk, doing this to her. It couldn’t be so bad, could it?

In the end, Ann decided on the easy route; the faster she complied, the faster Lister would leave her alone. She took off her knickers and turned back around. Her hands trembled and she hugged herself to stop her shivering. Ann felt exposed before Lister, vulnerable. The way Lister was looking at her, naked hunger in the dark eyes, was destroying what little equilibrium she had left inside.

“Put your hands down,” Lister whispered and came even closer, so close that Ann could feel the heat of her body. Lister ran her fingers along her arm. “You are… far more pleasing than I anticipated.”

Ann closed her eyes and fisted her hands against her thighs. Lister’s light touch on her arm left a trail of goosebumps there and she shivered at the sensation. She felt the touch move along her forearm and then up her side, Lister’s fingers tracing the indentations the corset had left on her abdomen, tender and leaden. And then Lister’s hand cupped her breast, thumb brushing across her nipple. Ann opened her eyes, startled.

“Oh!”

“Quite irresistible,” Lister murmured thoughtfully.

Ann bit her lip. Her nipple had puckered at the light tease. Lister’s thumb circled the peak and the touch made Ann feel weak in the knees. The touch sparkled on her skin and in her. Lister sipped her wine and it stained her lips maroon.

When Lister’s hand moved from her breast to the hollow of her throat, Ann exhaled unsteadily. She looked at Lister’s face, the dark shadow of her eyelashes on her cheeks and the way her lips were parted as she stared at Ann’s body. There was something about this intimate nearness that Ann found thrilling in a deep, hidden part of her mind.

From her throat, Lister’s hand slid down to the valley between her breasts and then further down, fingers tangling in the blonde curls at the apex of Ann’s legs. Lister tugged at the pubic hair; the sensation was electric. Ann’s hips quivered and, mortified, she knew if Lister were to dip her hand further, she would find Ann wet. 

“Hmm,” Lister hummed. She let go of Ann’s hairs. “Eugenie will see to this in the morning.”

Ann frowned. What did that mean? But before Ann could put the question to words, Lister had turned on her heels and stalked out of the room without a word. 

When the door hissed closed behind Lister, Ann stood still in the middle of the silent, dark room. The memory of Lister’s touch was burning on her skin. Inside her, she was somehow hot and cold at the same time, the stain of her arousal wetting the curls of her privates.

* * *

When Lister got to her room, she set the wine glass on the side table so hard wine sloshed over the rim. She paced around the room, booted feet loud on the stone floor. She finally stopped in front of her bed, still full of restless energy, and sat down on the edge of the bed. With a sigh, she pulled off her boots and then laid down. 

That girl. Lister closed her eyes. So surprisingly ravishing, slim and supple in shape and so very innocent in her response. Lister knew she had been so close to grasping Ann with both hands and taking her to bed then and there, sinking all of her fingers in all of her wet holes. So close.

“Don’t lose your head now,” she admonished herself. ”She’s a shy one.”

Lister opened her eyes and stared at the ceiling. She thought of Ann, of the delicious weight of her breast in her hand and the way her pale pink nipple had reacted to the slightest of touches. Lister slid her hand into her trousers. When her fingers reached her need, she found that she was already hot and slick to touch. 


	4. Diamonds and Castles

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lister herself was glistening with perspiration, her hair escaping from its ponytail and sticking to her wet neck.

Ann woke up with a start, the sound and feel of the room all wrong. After a moment of dissonance the memory of the previous day came to her and she groaned. She was not at home but instead, on the fifth floor of the sprawling pile that was Shibden Hall.

She had slept very badly, plagued by unnamed fears and also fleeting moments of Lister touching her again. The dreams left her restless, hot, and anxious. To escape the thoughts, Ann sprang out of her bed and searched for her wrist comm. It told her it was near lunchtime; in space, days and nights could not be determined by looking out the window. 

Just when Ann had found her robe and put it on, the door chime sounded. 

“Who is it?”

“Eugenie, madam. Mistress Lister’s servant. I’m here to draw you a bath.”

Ann frowned. “All right, come in.”

Eugenie was a young slip of a girl, dark-haired and slim. She was dressed in the gold and navy livery of Listers and carried a large case and a black pouch. “In the bathroom, madam.”

As Ann watched, Eugenie unfolded the case into a surprisingly roomy bathtub next to the sonic shower. She opened the wall tap and the tub filled slowly with hot water, the air in the bathroom suddenly humid. Ann brushed her hand through her tangled hair, interested. Baths were a rare luxury on Ganymede: the moon was rich with water but the energy expenditure of purifying and heating so much of it was quite extravagant.

“Please, madam,” Eugenie said, gesturing at the tub. “I will wash your hair.”

Feeling bashful, Ann disrobed and stepped into the tub. The warm water felt wonderful, like a warm embrace; she closed her eyes and sank into the water chin-deep. Eugenie stood to the side and massaged fragrant cleaner into her hair. Ann hummed with pleasure.

When Eugenie had washed the cleaner off her, she tapped Ann on the shoulder. “Please stand up, madam.”

Curious, Ann opened her eyes and stood. Eugenie took out a sonic epilator from the black pouch and grasped Ann by the hip.

“What- uh, what are you doing, Eugenie?”

Eugenie shrugged. “It’s how Mistress Lister prefers it,” she said, her voice neutral, almost bored. “Please stand still, madam. And spread your legs a bit.”

Ann flushed with embarrassment and exhaled. She kept her eyes firmly on the ceiling, focusing on breathing as calmly as she could and not squirming as Eugenie expertly removed her body hair. Then Eugenie rinsed her one last time and towelled her off.

“You can get dressed now, madam. I will drain the tub. The rest of the family is already in the dining room for lunch.”

Ann didn’t know what she was supposed to wear for a family lunch so she went with her Walker blue shirt and trousers. Eugenie did a miracle on her hair and then Ann squared her shoulders. It was time to face the new family.

Downstairs, a few revellers still lounged in the entrance hall love seats but otherwise the house was quiet. Ann wandered around until she found the family dining room. When she entered, she saw that Lister sat at the head of the table. Her eyes were on a datapad as she drummed the table with her fingers; her plate was already empty.

“Ann! How good to see you,” Aunt Anne greeted her and rose with a sigh. “Please, come sit with me.”

Avoiding Lister’s eye, Ann rounded the grey stone table and took Aunt Anne’s hands with a smile. “Good morning. I apologise for being so late for lunch.”

“Oh, pish. We’re not sticklers on silly courtly manners here,” Aunt Anne said brightly.

Ann sat down at the table, glancing at Lister from underneath her brows. No longer in formalwear but instead clad in a black miner’s undersuit, Lister looked even more forbidding than in her formals. Her brow was furrowed as she read and the tuneless rap of her fingers against the table was nerve-wracking for Ann.

Suddenly, Lister stood and her chair scraped against the floor loudly. She tossed her datapad on the table and stormed out of the dining room, not once looking at Ann. When the door closed behind her, a brief silence descended into the room.

From across the table Marian gave Ann a long-suffering look. “I don’t know what bug has crawled up her bottom this morning.”

“She’s going to the new mine this morning. Maybe she’s nervous?” Aunt Anne ventured.

Marian harrumphed and chased a mushroom around her plate with her fork. “My sister? Nervous? Not in a million years.”

“Mining promethium is a nasty business,” Captain Lister muttered and slurped his tea loudly. “Nasty, nasty business. I don’t know why she wants to go down there herself, too.”

“That’s Anne for you,” Aunt Anne said with a tremulous laugh. She turned to Ann and smiled. “What would you like to eat, dear?”

* * *

Lister re-wrapped the temperature regulator tube around her arm and tested its magnetic catch. The undersuit, composed of regulator tubing on top of heavy, form-fitting black skin suit, was neither comfortable nor convenient. It was, however, absolutely necessary. 

“Hello, guv’nor,” John Booth greeted her as he and his brother entered the antechamber. “Big day today.”

The rest of the mining team was already there, chattering quietly as they checked their equipment and suits. The low, long chamber was cramped with mining armour, hand-held sonic drills, equipment lockers, and benches. Everything was as neat as it could be with the persistent Ganymedean sand adhering to all surfaces if not cleaned daily.

“Hello, John, Joseph. Ready to descend to hell?”

“Always, ma’am,” Joseph said and saluted her with a smile. “Looking forward to busting open a few veins for Argus.”

Lister waved them off and sat down on the bench. She stared at the far wall and the dark grey smudges of sand on it. She tried not to think of why Ann had been late for lunch because she well knew why - because Eugenie had been tending to her. Lister chewed on the inside of her cheek. She didn’t know why she had felt compelled to flee when Ann had come in. 

Examining her feelings, Lister sighed. Embarrassment, perhaps? But why? She had been... restrained the previous night. Well, mostly restrained. She had nearly lost that restraint when she had felt Ann’s breast in her hand, so perfect and smooth. But in the end, she had left Ann untouched; she was an unusual girl, so shy and sheltered that Lister was having trouble figuring out what to do with her.

Blinking the thought away lest she get too distracted, Lister stood and hauled her mining armour off its peg.

Like most grand estates, Shibden Hall had gravity amplifiers everywhere but on the lowest level. The one-fifth Terran gravity in the equipment anteroom made all mining armour and even the motorised exoskeletons seem like a light suit. The armour was mandatory equipment for mining, not only because of Ganymede’s sodium-heavy, unbreathable exosphere but because promethium was highly radioactive. 

Lister slipped the torso plate over her head and then stepped into the hip-high legs and boots that sealed themselves onto the torso section. Sleeves clicked into place and lastly, she put on the helmet collar and the heavy, armour-jointed gloves. Lister turned her hand, enjoying the gleam of black composite shielding that would protect her against the elements and the radiation. There was nothing that she enjoyed more than wearing this armour and working with her hands.

Grabbing her helmet off the wall peg, Lister strode to the airlock. “Let’s go, everyone. We haven’t got all day.”

The men marched into the airlock with her with alacrity and then the lock cycled. Outside, they were immediately buffeted by winds - not a big problem in the thin atmosphere unless the wind picked up sand or a heavier object. But they had good weather today, no sandstorms and Jupiter was glistening red and large in the sky. 

As she walked to the troop carrier, Lister glanced at Argus, the three-storey tall boring machine parked outside. Soon, it would be time for mechanised digging but the first forays would be with handheld drills. Lister’s extremities tingled with anticipation and she smiled inside her helmet. 

It would be a good day in the mines. 

* * *

Ann spent most of the afternoon wandering around the hallways of Shibden, tracking the various ages of construction visible on the walls with curiosity. The origins of Shibden Hall went back to the first explorers who had claimed permanent residence on Ganymede, back in the grand age of exploration of the Terran Empire. The oldest parts dated back more than two centuries, the stone walls in them rough-hewn but worn smooth. Ann touched one wall, the doorjamb smoothed slick by generations of people grabbing it as they turned in the corridor.

On the sixth floor, Ann came upon a door that would not open to her, no matter what. She suspected this to be Lister’s room. Next door was an office cum library, a rectangular room with large floor-to-ceiling windows towards the Lister lands and Ganymede One both. One end had a work desk Ann did not dare approach but the other end had been furnished with comfortable lounge chairs, a daybed, and most surprisingly, bookshelves full of actual antique books. 

Amazed, Ann approached the bookshelves. She had previously seen books only in museums. It seemed the mistress of Shibden Hall was fond of antiques or perhaps she was just a traditionalist. Ann picked a book at random and took it to the window for better light. Just as she opened it, movement on the plains below caught her attention.

It was the mining party, returning from the day’s work. Ann put the book down on a table and leaned against the window, watching the troop carrier approach Shibden. When it was close, Ann jumped up and ran out of the room.

As she bounded down the stairs, Ann didn’t exactly know why she was racing to meet the troop carrier. Perhaps… perhaps she wanted to see Lister in her element, with her men, working. Perhaps it was just that she was dying of boredom and anything to break the monotony appealed to her.

Once downstairs, Ann went into the anteroom and stood in the corner, leaning on the wall, trying to make herself invisible. When the inner airlock door opened, her pulse quickened; Lister was the first one to enter. She strode in with strong, sure steps and yanked off her helmet. 

“Joseph!” she bellowed and pointed at one of the men with her gloved hand. “Good work today but get that fucking drill fixed properly this time.”

“Yes, ma’am,” the young man said and shifted his helmet nervously under his arm. He plopped a two-metre drill down on the nearest bench. “I don’t know what’s wrong with it, ma’am.”

“Figure it out,” Lister barked and swiveled around. “Pickles!”

“Ma’am,” one of the men said and stood up briskly. “Yes, ma’am?”

“You. If you can’t stay out of my hair while I work, you’ll go into second shift with Washington. Are we clear?”

The man’s head bobbed up and down. “Yes, ma’am. Sorry, ma’am. It was just that-”

“I’m not interested,” Lister growled at him and turned her back on him. He sat back down, deflated inside his armour.

Lister stalked to the far end of the room. She tossed her helmet on her bench and undid the clasps of her helmet collar. Only then did she notice Ann.

“Well now. Hello.”

Ann swallowed and looked at the ground. “I’m just…”

“Just what, Ann?”

Ann glanced back up, at Lister; her tone of voice had not been unkind, only tired. Lister’s black armour was streaked with both silicate sand and the thick slick of drill lubricant. The finely jointed plates were dented from heavy use; this was obviously a well-worn suit, made for work. Lister herself was glistening with perspiration, her hair escaping from its ponytail and sticking to her wet neck. She looked exhausted and hot and when she wiped her brow with her gloved hand, she left a long, black streak on her forehead. 

“Bloody hell,” Lister said and frowned. She rubbed at the stain but only made it worse.

Ann stepped forward and said impulsively, “Can I help you? With the suit, I mean.“ She wiped her hands on her tunic, feeling nervous.

Lister’s eyebrow rose and she sagged minutely, looking more tired. “Are you sure?”

Ann approached her. “You look worn out. I would like to help.”

Lister smiled and sat down. “I’m dead on my feet. And very dirty.”

“Oh, I don’t mind.”

Ann took Lister’s hand and undid the magnetic catch of the glove. She dropped the glove on the floor and took off the sleeve as well. She paused to hold Lister’s hand, turning it around. It was pale and calloused, strong fingers with short clean nails. She looked up at Lister and their eyes met. Ann held her breath. 

She didn’t quite know why she was doing this but she did know there was something quite captivating about Lister. Dangerous, yes, but also something that made Ann curious. Especially when she was like this, one moment barking orders at her frightened men and then the next looking so weary and human.

“You’re getting yourself all dirty,” Lister said, her voice low and hoarse. That voice, coupled with the intensity of her dark gaze, gave Ann a small frisson. Ann averted her eyes.

“It’ll wash away. Don’t worry about it.” 

Ann pulled off Lister’s boots and then the armoured legs. In the low gravity room, they were light as air. Ann set the boots neatly aside and looked at her hands. They were now also streaked with dirt, the smell of it faintly ozonous and alien. 

Last, she pulled off the final glove and sleeve. She set them aside and sat on the worn stone bench next to Lister. For a moment, they sat quietly, the silence comfortable between them. The men were keeping their distance, their crude conversations and the clang of armour seeming very distant to Ann. 

“I’m sorry I ran off at lunch,” Lister said quietly. “I did not mean to be… impolite.”

“It’s all right.”

Lister turned and looked at Ann. “No, it’s not. You live here, you are my...hm. My wife. We should not be at odds as we get to know each other.”

Ann opened her mouth and closed it again. She was going to ask about the previous night but then thought better. Perhaps it was a topic best avoided. And she definitely did not want to broach the topic of why on earth Eugenie had shaved her this morning; the very thought still made Ann blush with embarrassment. For now, she was going to concentrate on the here and now.

“I would like that. Not being at odds.”

Lister pulled open the final clasps of her cuirass herself. She lifted it over her head, dropped it on the floor and stretched her arms until Ann could hear her vertebra pop. 

“And look, you did get yourself all dirty,” Lister said and caught Ann’s hand. She tsked.

“I said, it’ll wash away.”

Lister smoothed her fingers down Ann’s dirt-streaked palm. “Ask for some oil soap from Cordingley, in the kitchen.”

“I will,” Ann whispered and snatched her hand back. Lister’s touch was too much, too intimate for her; it reminded her of the previous night.

Lister stood up and looked at Ann, a wealth of emotions warring on her face. “I’ll go shower now. Will you… hm. Will I see you for dinner tonight?”

Ann exhaled and smiled. “Yes. I’ll come to dinner.”

* * *

Lister sat in her office. Her wrist display told her it was well into the night but in space, time was more an artificial construct for fragile human bodies rather than a natural cycle. She sniffed the homebrew rice vodka in her glass. Awful, but very alcoholic.

Dinner had been… pleasant. She couldn’t quite decide whether she felt annoyed or endeared with how well Ann seemed to get along with the rest of her family. Captain Lister had taken an immediate liking to her, as had Aunt Anne, and even her dreary sister seemed to enjoy a fresh face at the table. There was still tension between her and Ann but it was not so prickly as before. But would Ann ever stop flinching when she touched her?

Lister got up with a sigh and walked to the scenic windows that spanned two walls. She found the garish, blinking lights of Voyager Bay in the distance, feeling the pull of adventure; it always worked out this way, with her feeling restless after a long day of physical work. 

“Perhaps,” she muttered to herself and sipped her vodka. “Perhaps not.”

She closed her eyes and thought of Ann, how her smile lit up the dining room, how lovely and attentive she was with Aunt Anne. How absolutely ravishing she looked in her dinner gown, all that expanse of the pale skin of her neck and shoulders on display. More than once, Lister had found herself staring at Ann, her food forgotten. She longed to kiss the length of her neck, sink her teeth into the creamy flesh below her ear, steal her hands under her skirts and find out how many fingers Ann might like in her when she got fucked. 

Lister blinked away the memory of a naked Ann and turned. She noticed a stray book on the side table. Frowning, she called up the office entry log on her wrist display. She scrolled through it until she got to this afternoon. 

_ Ann Lister,  _ the display read. 

“I see you are the curious sort, then,” Lister whispered and picked up the book.  _ The Collected Poems of Sappho. _ Lister smiled at her reflection in the dark window, amused. “Well now, Ann of clan Lister. You have hidden depths.”


	5. Run When Destiny Comes

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Marian groaned. “Oh please no, let’s not have another evening discussing Anne’s exploits around the solar system. There’s not enough wine on this moon for it.”

When Ann woke up the next morning, she didn’t know whether she felt relieved or disappointed that Lister had not come to her room during the night. Nor did she come the following night, or the nights after that.

Ann met Lister often at breakfast but never at lunch; Lister was working long days at the mine with her crew and she seemed progressively more tired at dinnertime. Their conversations were pleasant but superficial, Lister often monologuing about all manner of things, from poetry and ancient Terran customs to the crucial nature of promethium in the manufacture of repulsorlift technology. Ann found all of it quite entertaining, especially when Marian offered scathing commentary. 

One day, the Rawson matriarch came for a visit with Ann’s cousin, Delia Rawson. Ann wore her very best blue dress and met them in the main foyer. It was so good to see familiar faces; she hugged Delia for a long time.

Lunch was enjoyable and light, held in the family dining room rather than the cavernous, formal reception room. During the main course, as Ann watched, Lister turned her attention to Ann’s cousin. 

“And how do you find Ganymede, Miss Rawson? Or may I call you Delia?” Lister leaned across the arm of her chair and offered Delia a smile that was all charm and white teeth. “I understand you live on your family’s estate on Titan.”

Delia Rawson smiled and cast her eyes down to her plate. “Uh, yes.”

“Titan is such a lovely place, rich in natural resources and the view on Saturn is just breathtaking. Not as lovely as on Mimas, of course - standing in the grand crater there and seeing Saturn rise over its rim, enormous and golden, well,” Lister said and made a throaty sound. She touched the back of Delia’s hand for emphasis and her fingers lingered there rather long. “It is one of the most awe-inspiring, intense experiences one can have, Delia.” 

Ann forked some of her mushrooms into her mouth and watched blush rise on her cousin’s cheeks. She felt equal measures outraged and amused at Lister’s brazen behaviour and how susceptible to it her cousin seemed to be. There was also a small twinge of jealousy that Ann felt but she pushed the thought immediately down. 

“Oh stop it, you,” the Rawson matriarch said gravelly from Lister’s other side and raised her wine glass. “I have no more nieces to spare.”

Lister gave Rawson a measured look. “I don’t understand what you mean, madam.”

“Of course you don’t.” The Rawson matriarch laughed a dry, barking laugh. “Coincidentally, I have at least two distant cousins on Europa who never fail to swoon whenever your name is mentioned in casual conversation.”

Lister sat back. Ann watched her finger stroke the side of her wine glass; she found it hypnotic. She had to admit to herself that Lister looked very handsome in her severe formal dinner jacket, all stiff, tall collars and once more a black cravat concealing her throat. Her dark hair was gathered in an elaborate, plaited twist on top of her head, making her seem even taller and more regal than usual. No wonder Delia was blushing so furiously.

“Well. Those sodium mining towns can get so boring after a while,” Lister said.

Rawson cackled. “Ooh, their sodium mining operations were not the only thing you had your fingers in, I’m told.”

“Oh, such ancient history! Must you do this in front of my wife and family?” Lister asked, her mind clearly warring between humoured and aggravated. From their manner, Ann suspected Lister and Rawson had a rich, complicated history, antagonistic and friendly at the same time. 

Ann glanced at Marian next to her and could not help but grin at the expressive grimace Marian had on her face. “Please don’t hold yourself back on my account, auntie,” Ann said and stared at Lister straight in the eye. She picked up her wine glass and took a sip. “I’m fascinated by these stories. So much family history I’ve not been made aware of.”

Marian groaned. “Oh please no, let’s not have another evening discussing Anne’s exploits around the solar system. There’s not enough wine on this moon for it.”

Ann laughed and leaned towards Marian. “This is an excellent wine, I’ve meant to say. I understand one of your finds?”

Marian coloured with pleasure and perhaps because of the wine. “Oh yes. One of our tenants, the Sowdens, they manage the water purification plants down by the lake intake. Their son Thomas is quite the wine chemist these days.”

“I’d love to visit and see the wine making process,” Ann said and turned back to look at Lister. “Perhaps we could tour the estate one day. I’ve seen so little of it so far.”

Lister pursed her lips and gave her a look that was both amused and curious. “I have been remiss. My apologies.”

Ann saluted Lister with her glass and sat back, smiling. She thought of her relationship with Lister, how it had started so strangely but had now drifted to this odd truce, not quite friendship but something approximating it. It made Ann feel more at home, like part of this family, but she also felt vaguely disappointed for it. She didn’t quite know why.

* * *

When the Rawsons left, Lister was glad to be rid of her lunchtime formalwear in exchange for a tank top and her mechanic’s apron. She hurried down to the lowest floor, feeling the light spring in her step when she exited the enhanced gravity of the higher floors. She bounded to her workshop and rolled out her tool pouch on the floor. 

”Now then, Argus. What’s ailing you?” she muttered and crouched next to the processing unit that took up the bulk of the floorspace in the workshop. It was an enormous funnel of grinding cones, taller than Lister, and Argus had two dozen of them. Sensors crowded amongst the intermesh gears and cooling tubing wound through in seemingly chaotic patterns on the pitted, stained surface. And for some reason, the sensors of this one unit kept failing in the mine. 

Lister worked methodically, starting with the topmost sensor and checking its conductive surfaces. Her hands were quickly stained with the ever-present silicate sand, the pale blue cooling liquid that smelled faintly sour, and the thick lubricant paste that coated the innards of the gear system. 

She was on the ninth sensor when she heard the workroom door swish open. It was Ann, still in her lunchtime blue dress; its hem fluttered in the low gravity as she walked in.

”Oh, hello. Didn’t expect to see you here in the bowels of the house.”

Ann smiled and came to stand in front of the enormous dirty machine. ”I was bored. The computer told me you were at the workshop and I’ve not been here yet.”

”It’s very dirty here. Your dress might get ruined.”

”I don’t care,” Ann said and stepped even closer. ”What are you doing to… whatever it is?”

“This is one of the processing units of Argus.” At Ann’s questioning look, Lister said, “The pit machine. These units extract the promethium and other valuables from the ore. But something keeps going wrong with this one unit and I’m trying to figure out what and why.”

”Don’t you have mechanics?”

Lister smiled a crooked smile and wiped her dirty hands on her stained apron. ”I do. They can be inept at times. If you want something done right...”

”You should do it yourself,” Ann said. She raised a hand as if to touch the machine but didn’t. ”It looks very complicated.”

”It is, but a pit machine is absolutely necessary for any large-scale mining operation. When I originally bought Argus, I took a gamble,” Lister said and hefted the sensor in her hand. ”Now that gamble is no longer tied to the deeds to Shibden. And, hm. I have you to thank you for that, Ann.”

“I don’t care about any of it. The money, that is.”

“You should. It took you here. For better and for worse.”

Ann took a deep breath; Lister stared at the sharp ridge of her collarbones, captivated. ”I find… I don’t mind it so much. In fact, I quite like it here. At Shibden.”

”Well don’t tell Marian that, she will faint.” Lister paused, frowning. ”But why?”

Ann’s gaze dropped and to Lister, Ann’s eyes seemed to linger first on Lister’s bare shoulders and then on her lips. Ann blinked and then she met Lister’s gaze again. Her pale pink lips were parted as if she was going to say something but could not bring herself to say the words out loud. There was a sudden, tense silence in the workshop.

Lister put the sensor down on her workbench. She came closer to Ann and leaned in; Ann was wearing the same perfume she had worn at their wedding reception, faint and floral. Lister’s eyes closed briefly as she enjoyed the exotic, alien scent.

”What is it, Ann?” Lister murmured into her ear. ”What were you going to say?”

”I’m…” Ann began. She inhaled shakily. ”Nothing.”

Ann turned and left. Lister picked up the sensor again and gazed at it with unseeing eyes; her mind was completely on the way Ann had stared at her. With longing and want.


	6. Written My Name in the Stars

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “It’s space. This inhospitable place. Makes us all hard people, doesn’t it?” Mildly NSFW

The next morning was bright; it was the light phase of Ganymede’s day that lasted seven Terran days. Instead of rushing to breakfast, Ann stayed in bed. She turned between the slick sheets, dozing on and off in Jupiter’s red light. Finally, when she could not sleep any more, Ann rested on her side and looked at the spot where she had stood on her wedding night. Where Lister had touched her.

The acute embarrassment and confusion of the memory had faded now, leaving behind a sense of curiosity. Ann turned onto her back and stared at the ceiling. Perhaps even a sense of… excitement, a thrill brought on by how Lister had looked at her with such naked want that night. And yesterday, for a brief moment in the workshop, it had seemed to Ann that Lister might kiss her. The thought of it made her heart beat faster.

“Oh, Ann,” she admonished herself out loud. “You’re developing an awful obsession, aren’t you.”

Under the covers, Ann slid her hands along her chemise to her thighs and pulled the hem up. She touched her vulva, so tender and hairless, odd to the touch. She still wasn’t used to it being this way.

Ann slipped her hand between her legs and ran her finger along her wetness. She lathered the slick moisture on her clit; pleasure rolled through her and she closed her eyes, finding a familiar rhythm. She thought of a jumble of things, nameless fantasies, until her mind drifted to the feel of Lister’s thumb circling her nipple. Ann exhaled and pressed harder on herself. She thought of the dark stain of wine on Lister’s full, cruel lips, of the strength and hard work visible in her dirty hands when she had been fixing the pit machine. How would those calloused fingers feel on her, parting her intimate folds, roughly pushing into her?

To that thought, shameful yet thrilling, Ann came with a groan.

In her post-orgasm haze, Ann wondered why she had never said no to Eugenie when she came in for a shave, every three days like clockwork. Perhaps because the servant girl had treated it so matter of factly, with the same lack of enthusiasm she gave to tending to Ann’s laundry. Ann felt flushed. How much Lister’s servants saw and heard of what went on in this house - they probably knew everything.

The thought spurred Ann up. She got dressed and hurried to the bowels of Shibden, searching through corridors until she found the kitchen. She went in through the large double doors and was immediately assaulted by the earthy, warm smell of food. 

“Hello, Cordingley.”

Cordingley was in the process of separating mushrooms and she dropped the bunch she was holding. She turned to Ann and said, “Uh, good morning ma’am. Did you want more oil soap?”

“What? Oh, no, thank you. How… how busy are you right now?”

Cordingley looked at her mushrooms. “Not very. Preparing for dinner. You missed breakfast and lunch, ma’am, would you like some food now?”

“Oh, that would be lovely. Something simple, please. And then if you could show me, I would like to see, well, maybe the hydroponics gardens?”

“Certainly, ma’am. I need to get some potatoes anyway. Though, it will be quite dirty there.”

Ann smiled at her. “Well, now I know where to find the good soap, don’t I?”

Cordingley made her a salad wrap and Ann ate it as they walked along the service corridors to the far side of the Hall. A pressurised door led to an enormous, low room full of hydroponics walls. Yellow Sun-spectrum lights bathed the vegetation; Ann closed her eyes and felt the heat of the lamps on her face. This was how a sunny day must have felt like on Earth, back when it was fully habitable: hot and humid and smelling strongly of live plants.

Walking along the narrow corridors between the plant walls, Ann fell into step with Cordingley. “Have you been at Shibden long?”

“Oh, goodness, I can’t remember how many years. I was Mistress Lister’s chambermaid, you see,” Cordingley said and hefted her empty basket in her arms. “This was when she travelled a lot, mostly to the various large moons of Saturn and the colonies there. So beautiful. Especially Titan and Dione. But then I got decompression sickness one time too many and now I shouldn’t space travel any more.”

“I’m sorry to hear that.”

Cordingley blew her breath out with a laugh. “Oh, I’m happier here, both feet on the ground. I don’t have madam’s energy any more.”

They got to the potato walls and Cordingley set her basket down. She dug out a potato plant’s roots from one of the growth pouches and expertly plucked the ripe tubers into the basket. 

“She seems to be endlessly energetic.”

Cordingley wiped a potato clean on her sleeve and looked at it appraisingly. “Always with a plan, a new venture, a new travel, a new woman.” Cordingley started and her eyes widened as she looked at Ann. “I’m sorry ma’am, I did not mean…”

Ann smiled at her reassuringly. “That’s all right. I’m well aware of who she is. Here, let me help you.” Ann dug out another potato root from a pouch and plucked the potatoes. “I’m just curious, why has she not married before this?”

Cordingley started on the next plant. “Well, the Lister estate is not large, it just happens to have a lot of promethium. And that’s highly sought after now, I understand.” She lowered her voice. “But madam has had suitors, yes. The last man who attempted to woo her, well. When he would not take the hint, she sent him a three-page letter that was so scathing he apparently cried for days. Then she burned all the things he had sent her - an antique table, so many paintings, crockery. And then she had the brickworks compress the ashes of his things into a brick and sent that to him, too.”

Ann clapped her hand to her mouth and laughed. “Oh good lord!”

“As for the women, well.” Cordingley paused and turned to Ann. “There have been… some, but none as constant as she would have liked.”

Ann plucked another root and tossed the potatoes into the basket. “She can be so charming. And then so cruel.”

“It’s space. This inhospitable place. Makes us all hard people, doesn’t it?” Cordingley wiped her hands on her apron and hefted the potato basket on her hip. “You’ve got yourself all dirty now, ma’am.”

Ann looked at her hands, mud-streaked from fingertips to elbows; hydroponics was efficient but quite wet and dirty. “Oh, so it seems. Damn it.”

Cordingley smiled. “I’ll call Eugenie to draw you a bath, ma’am.”

* * *

Lister stood in the antechamber and tore off her mining armour. She was angry and disappointed and could not help but snarl when she tossed the final piece of the armour to the floor. 

“Bloody hell,” she muttered and slammed her fist into her locker before heading to the showers. Her men jumped out of her way but she didn’t even notice.

The sonic shower calmed her a bit, as did clean clothes. Sliding the magnetic catches of her shirt closed, Lister marched to the kitchens.

“Oh, madam!” Hemingway said, startled. She almost dropped her knife. “You’re back so early.”

“The pit machine. It broke again,” she muttered, tugging at her collar. “I’m hungry.”

Hemingway whipped up a meal for her and Lister inhaled it, standing in the middle of the kitchen. Her foot tapped a nervous beat; the pent-up energy and annoyance in her was still looking for an outlet.

“Have you seen Ann today?”

Hemingway shook her head. “She wasn’t at breakfast or lunch today. Perhaps Cordingley has seen her. Or Eugenie. I was off to the market this afternoon.”

Frowning, Lister handed her empty plate to Hemingway. Where was Ann? Had she not eaten? Her wrist computer told her she was in her room with Eugenie. Lister turned on her heel and left the kitchens. 

When she got to Ann’s door, Lister’s hand hovered over the chime but she did not press it. This was her house, she could come and go as she pleased. So she merely keyed the door open and stepped in. The room was empty but Lister heard voices and the sound of running water from the bathroom. She crossed the room and leaned her shoulder against the doorjamb, holding her breath.

Ann stood in the bathtub, her back to the door, and Eugenie was pouring water over her shoulders. In the warm light of the bathroom, Ann’s skin shone wet and white, the sleek lines of her limbs accentuated by the water. Lister bit her tongue; desire scaled her spine at the sight. The round curves of Ann’s behind were so soft and tempting and Lister wanted nothing more than to follow the path of the water rivulets across them, first with her hands and then with her mouth. And when Ann turned, Lister saw the pink rosebuds of her nipples, tightened by the cold air, trembling as Ann exhaled in surprise.

“Oh!” Ann covered herself with her arms. 

Eugenie peeked from behind Ann, eyes wide. “Mistress Lister!”

Lister cocked her head and put her hands in her pockets. “You didn’t have breakfast or lunch. I was worried.”

A blush crept up Ann’s chest and to her cheeks; her eyes, however, met Lister’s with a bold dare. “I’m fine,” she said levelly. Eugenie handed a bath sheet to Ann and she wrapped it around herself.

Lister exhaled a laugh. For once, she was the one who had to avert her eyes from Ann’s steady gaze. 

“So it seems. I’ll leave you to it, then.”

Lister escaped and marched up to her office, taking the back stairs two at a time. Once there, she poured herself a stiff shot of rice vodka and rested her forehead against the window. It was ice cold. In the distance, she saw the beckoning lights of Voyager Bay.

Yes, that could be the perfect distraction for her. A round of cards with the regulars, maybe a drink or two. Maybe a whore or two as well. Perhaps that would help her dispel the energy and the lust she felt throbbing in her loins.

Lister drained her shot and headed downstairs for her hoverbike.


	7. I Know the Pain and the Hurt

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “Will you say no, Ann?” NSFW. Read the tags, seriously.

Ann sat on the edge of the bed and fingered the hem of her chemise. Lister had not been at dinner and nobody seemed to know where she was, though Marian had offered various ludicrous theories. And now it was late evening and Ann felt… strange again. Off-kilter. She couldn’t get out of her head the way Lister had looked at her this afternoon in the bathroom, her dark eyes gleaming with barely suppressed want.

Ann laid down in her bed with a sigh, relaxing into the cool sheets. Perhaps it would be another night alone. She thought of the cold solitude of her childhood room at Cliff Hill and dozed off. 

Ann awoke to the sound of her door opening. Groggy, she sat up in bed and rubbed her eyes. In the wan light of the night, Ann could see it was Lister.

“Oh. You again.”

“Yes, me again,” Lister said. Ann could hear the rasp and the slight slur of consonants in her voice; Lister had had a few drinks. 

Lister stopped at the foot of Ann’s bed and put her hands in her pockets. Her hair was pulled back in a loose, low ponytail; she had on the same black trousers and open-collared midnight blue shirt that she had worn earlier. A cigarillo that had extinguished itself was stuck between her lips and she took it between her fingers when she spoke.

“Do you know where I was this evening?”

Ann hugged the top sheet to herself. “No, I don’t.”

“Down at Voyager Bay. Lovely place. I sometimes play cards at Stag’s Head Inn - those reprobates there are too easy. But do you know why I go specifically there?”

Ann shook her head, holding her breath. 

“Right next door is the best whorehouse on Ganymede. I went there tonight after a game with the intention of properly fucking a girl or two. But then I changed my mind.” Lister smiled at Ann and it was the smile of an indomitable devil. She pointed at Ann with her cigarillo. “Can you guess why?”

Ann swallowed; her mouth was bone dry. She was both excited and scared now, this casual and tipsy Lister with her gravelly voice and fiendish smile holding her in thrall. “I can’t imagine,” she whispered.

Lister grabbed the top sheet and yanked it off Ann. She dropped the sheet on the floor and flicked her cigarillo away as she walked around the bed and sat next to Ann. She trailed the tips of her fingers along Ann’s bare arm.

“Well. I thought to myself, why would I fuck a whore when I can fuck my wife?”

Ann jerked back, her heart in her throat. She could smell the raw alcohol and smoke on Lister’s breath but her dark eyes were clear and steady as they regarded her, waiting.

“No,” Ann whispered instinctively.

Lister climbed onto the bed on all fours, closer to Ann. “Why not? What are you afraid of, Ann?”

“I’m…” Ann started and scooted backwards. She exhaled. “I’m afraid of you,” she said but knew it was not quite true.

“Mmm. You should know, Ann,” Lister said, her voice now a low whisper. She came closer, so close Ann could feel her breath on her cheek. “You should know that you don’t have to be afraid.”

Ann whimpered and tried to push Lister away. Lister caught her by the wrists and shoved her down, hands held in a one-handed vice grip against her chest. Ann struggled but could not free her arms. Lister pressed her into the mattress.

“Why are you doing this, then?” Ann said, voice unsteady. Her whole body quivered, from fear of the unknown, from outrage, or perhaps from something she could not name.

“Because I don’t understand why you resist me so, why you always run away from me. I’ve seen the way you look at me, Ann.” 

Lister pushed her knee between Ann’s thighs. Ann made a desperate sound deep in her throat and struggled, but she still couldn’t get her hands free; Lister’s grip on her wrists was hard and painful. She felt trapped, but there was also a shameful part of her that thrilled at Lister’s proximity and at the savagery of her actions. 

“I don’t… no. I don’t know what you’re talking about,” Ann said and she knew it was a lie, too. She twisted her body but there was no desperation in her any more; Lister had spoken only what was the truth and that deflated Ann’s outrage.

“You look at me so daringly, Ann. As if you’re trying to wordlessly will me to do this to you.”

Lister’s fingers slid along Ann’s inner thigh, under her chemise, and the muscles of her leg jumped. Ann tried to squirm away from the touch but couldn’t; Lister’s press on her chest and hands was too strong. And then Lister’s hand ghosted over her sex, the shaved skin there so sensitive. Ann couldn’t hold in the whimper that escaped her; she was suddenly on fire, her insides throbbing with a desperate, acute need. To her shame, she realised that were Lister to touch her deeper, she would find her already soaking wet. 

“If you say no again, Ann, I will stop. Immediately. But I don’t think you’ll say it.”

“Oh god,” Ann exhaled and closed her eyes. She could not meet Lister’s eyes any more, that dark gaze that so hypnotised her.

“Will you say no, Ann?”

Lister’s fingers slid through Ann’s folds and Ann felt that she was indeed already wet, so very wet. She tugged at her wrists again but there was no conviction in her gesture; she knew she could not escape from that vice grip and furthermore, did not want to. Lister’s touch on her, the slippery slide of her fingers over Ann’s clit, was sublime and magical, so much better than what she had imagined. 

“Will you?”

Ann shivered and opened her eyes. What she had fantasised while touching herself was a pale shadow of this reality, this fire in her that Lister was stoking higher with every soft, skillful touch. She whimpered with obscene delight and knew she couldn’t help herself, not any more; she made the decision to surrender to this shameful need in her. 

Ann didn’t speak. Instead, she bit her lip and looked Lister straight in the eye as she spread her legs. 

Lister’s lips parted in a breathy moan. She was staring at Ann, unblinking, eyes liquid with lust. “Oh, Ann.”

When Lister let go of Ann’s wrists, Ann groaned, unable to stay quiet any more. She turned her head away. She didn’t want Lister to see what she was doing to her, how quickly she was unravelling; she was coming undone fast with every skilful stroke of Lister’s fingertips on her. Something white hot was gathering in Ann and it felt completely different from when she touched herself.

With her free hand, Lister pushed Ann’s legs wider, fingernails sinking into Ann’s soft thigh. Ann fisted her hands into the sheets, her breath coming in short gasps; she was already nearing her peak. And then Lister’s fingers pushed into her, hard and fast.

Ann cried out, from her denied release and from the surprise and pain of the invasion. Her legs spasmed but she could not close them, not with Lister between them and Lister’s hand holding her tight. 

“Oh god, oh, it’s…” Ann moaned, her body tense and arching off the bed like a pulled bow. Pleasure was mingling with the pain and Ann didn’t know which one would win. “It’s too much. Ah!”

“You can take it, Ann. It’ll feel so good,” Lister whispered. Her eyes were on Ann’s sex as her fingers pressed into her again. “So good.”

Ann groaned and her voice broke when she felt a sharp twinge inside. Lister’s fingers stabbed into her at a slow, murderous pace and with each stroke, pleasure won over the pain; Ann trembled and moaned with the fire that was once more being stoked in her at every thrust. But then suddenly, Lister stopped. Ann blinked and looked up at Lister, her heart and her breath quivering in her chest.

Lister was staring at her fingers, very still. There was blood on them. “Oh.  _ Ann.”  _

Ann’s breathing was erratic, hard. “What? What is it? Why… why did you stop?”

“I didn’t realise you’re a…”

Ann grabbed Lister’s wrist. “I don’t care. Go on.”

Lister snatched her hand from Ann’s grasp and backed away. Anguish twisted her face. She stared at Ann for a long, quiet moment and then she stormed out of the room.

Ann laid still on her bed, listening to the thunder of blood in her ears. The firestorm inside her dissipated and left behind a cold, clammy sweat and adrenaline shivers. Ann turned to her side and hugged her knees, tears prickling in her eyes. She felt profoundly, acutely alone. 

* * *

Lister got all the way to the back stairs until she felt she couldn’t go on. She sat down on the bottom step and leaned against the wall with a despairing moan.

“You idiot,” she whispered to herself. She smacked the back of her head against the stone wall, once, and then rested her head against it. “You’ve fucked it up now.”

Lister closed her eyes. She recalled the ethereal softness of Ann’s sex, the slick slide of her most intimate skin between her fingers. The tight squeeze of her inner muscles and the breathy cry Ann had made when she had entered her. She had been so perfect.

Lister put her fingers in her mouth. The copper tang of blood mixed with the musky taste of Ann’s wetness and it was divine. She felt drunk and aflame with the taste and the memory.

”Fuck.”

She hadn’t known. She had thought Ann was just playing coy, like a proper lady would. And now Ann’s first time had been this.... This forced, drunken fumble.

Lister whacked her fist against the next stair. It stung and did not help at all. So she got up and went to her office. Her alcohol-fuelled mood long gone, she sat at her desk and drummed her fingers on the slick stone surface. She looked at the star-speckled sky and found Saturn, unerringly, as she always did.

And then Lister did what she always did. She sent a message to Mariana.


	8. I Can Feel the Pressure

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ann caught Lister’s hand and held the clumsy glove with her own. “I’m not afraid of you, you know.”

Ann slept badly and woke up for good at dawn, cold and exhausted. She got up and got dressed, then laid down on the daybed by the window in her room. Up in the sky, penumbra was creeping across Jupiter’s face as its light waned into the long night. 

Hugging herself, Ann looked at her bed. The bottom sheet had faint streaks of blood on it; if it weren’t for them, Ann could have thought she had imagined it all. But she hadn’t. It had been… Ann closed her eyes and tried to arrange her jumbled thoughts.

It was... shameful how much she had enjoyed it, Ann thought, admitting the truth to herself. She had been on fire, burning with a primal need she hadn’t previously known existed in her. Lister’s casual strength with which she had overpowered her and the firm, sure hand on her most private parts - these were things Ann had not known she wanted. But now she did know and she found she could think of nothing else. She hadn’t been afraid of Lister herself; she had feared these unknown reactions of her body that she had been taught were shameful.

Ann felt her groin gingerly through her trousers. There was no lingering pain but she was tender. She was not a virgin anymore but she felt no different for it. Ann felt more changed by this new knowledge of what and who she wanted, and where. She wanted Lister, in her bed, and there she wanted Lister to take her hard. 

Ann escaped that mortifying thought to the corridors. They were deserted and she wandered restlessly until she came to the formal reception room. It was quiet and cavernous, her footfalls echoing off the distant ceiling. Though the room was large, she felt hemmed in by the massive windowed walls.

“I need a walk,” she muttered to herself. “Some space.”

She found the exosuit room in the main foyer and struggled into a suit - it was an older model than her own but that one was still at Cliff Hill. Making a mental note to send for it, Ann double-checked the seal on her helmet and the oxygen levels inside the suit. Satisfied, she went through the airlock.

Ganymede was tidally locked to Jupiter’s immense mass, which meant that the same space in the sky was always dominated by the red and white and deep black of the planet’s phases. Ann bounded across the flatlands in the loping gait of low-gravity spaces. She aimed towards the distant mountain ranges, her thoughts drowned by the whistle of sandy wind against her helmet and the constant drone of her suit’s air recycler. When she stopped to catch her breath, Ann watched the passage of Io across the sliver of Jupiter still in Sun’s light, slow and steady. 

She had lived all her life on the moons of the planetary giants, first on Titan and now on Ganymede. Civilisation was so far away; here, on the far edge of the inhabited solar system, Ann hated that they pretended civilisation through rigid adherence to ancient, formal customs and dress. It was mere surface decoration. She longed to see more than these inhospitable backwaters that turned everyone into the most hardened, cruel versions of themselves by necessity. 

Ann turned around towards Shibden again. She saw the large, ugly bulk of  _ IGV Fury Engine  _ by the Shibden refinery spires, its cavernous cargo bays being loaded with containers of promethium. Next to it a much smaller ship was preparing for launch, its engines idling and bright in the wan light. Maintenance personnel scurried around it, uncoiling fuelling hoses and ticking through their preparation lists. 

Ann frowned and bounced closer.  _ IGV Velocity Engine,  _ the ID plate said, and the ship was painted in the gold and navy Lister livery. Who was preparing to leave Ganymede?

Ann’s wrist comm buzzed her arm. Poking at the screen with her gloved finger, Ann saw that it was a new message.

_ Please meet me in the front foyer, if you can. I’m leaving for Europa. - AL _

Her heart hammering, Ann rushed towards Shibden. When she got through the airlock and yanked her helmet off, she found the foyer full of people. In the middle of it stood Lister like an obsidian statue in her black burnished exosuit, her helmet under her arm. When she saw Ann, she waved Eugenie off and came to meet her. 

“Ann. I’m glad I saw you before I left.”

Ann set her helmet on a chair. “Why are you going? Why Europa?”

Lister looked away for a moment, blinking rapidly. With a sigh, she set her helmet down and grasped Ann by the shoulders. “I think… In light of what happened last night, perhaps it’s easier for you if I’m away. For a while.”

Ann opened her mouth but could not think of the right words to say. Had she disappointed Lister with her inexperience? She felt embarrassed and unsure. A blush crept on her cheeks. “But why do you think so?”

Lister brushed her gloved knuckles across Ann’s cheek. The glove was smooth and cold against her skin. “You are so lovely, Ann. I can find no words with which to convey how very sorry I am.”

Ann caught Lister’s hand and held the clumsy glove with her own. “I’m not afraid of you, you know.”

Lister offered a wan smile. “Perhaps you really should be. I will be back in a week or so.”

Ann let go of Lister’s hand when she stepped back and scooped up her helmet. Walking backwards, Lister kept her gaze fixed on Ann as she attached her helmet and activated the life support of her suit. When the airlock doors closed and hid Lister from view, Ann released the breath she hadn’t realised she’d been holding. 

“Mariana lives on Europa.”

Ann turned and saw Marian standing on the lowest step of the grand staircase. “Who’s Mariana?”

Marian nodded towards the reception room. “Come upstairs for a cup of tea and I’ll tell you.”

* * *

At this phase of the Ganymede-Europa orbital resonance, the journey was but a brief jaunt through the eternal midnight of space and then the bright icy surface of Europa came to fill the front viewport. Lister sat in the co-pilot’s chair of the  _ Velocity Engine. _ It was her preferred seat, even if it did make her pilot Thomas nervous. 

Europa One, the main habitation cluster, was perched on a large island of silicate rock amidst an expanse of ice. Orbital control had allowed them to land on the Lawton estate directly and Lister bounded out of her ship first, taking the steps two at a time. She was already taking her helmet off when the airlock was still cycling and she tossed it to the first servant she saw when she finally got in.

“Hello, Fred,” Mariana greeted her. She was wearing her best red dress and her hair was done up in a complicated swirl. Her lips gleamed crimson in the dim lights. 

“Hello, you,” Lister murmured and kissed Mariana on both cheeks. She knew her exosuit gloves were rough on Mariana’s bare shoulders and that she probably reeked of ozone and coolant fluid but she didn’t care. 

“A bath first and then tea?”

Lister smiled and undid the airtight seals of her suit. She yanked the suit off and tossed it to a servant who staggered under the weight. “Tea first. We’ll see about the bath.”

“You smell.”

“Probably. You’ll survive.”

Smirking, Mariana took her offered arm and Lister took the familiar route to Mariana’s quarters. Mariana’s chambermaid served them tea and Lister sprawled into an armchair with her cup. 

“Really, Fred. In your exosuit underclothes? These are my nice chairs.”

Lister pursed her lips and sipped her tea. “Are we having a formal dinner?”

“Yes, later tonight. I expect better from you.”

Lister checked her wrist display and did the time zone change in her head. “We have plenty of time. I’ll change and even bathe, but just because you asked.”

“How generous of you.” Mariana paused and eyed Lister in a manner that was clearly judging. “So what is this that I hear of you getting married?”

“Mmm, yes. Ann of clan Walker. An Arrangement.”

Mariana sipped her tea. “A little slip of a girl, isn’t she? A bit dull and stupid. Good money, though.”

Lister bared her teeth. “She’s my wife, Mariana. I thank you for not talking about her in that manner.”

“Oh, Fred. You know I say things ten times worse about Charles,” Mariana said and waved her hand dismissively. 

Lister frowned. She didn’t want to think of Ann, not now and not here. Yet her mind kept jumping back to the previous night, to Ann’s supple body and the way her blue eyes had looked up at her, both ashamed and aroused. And the wonderful, breathy moans Ann had made with Lister’s fingers in her tight hole. Lister blinked the thought away but it left behind an acute, violent throb in her loins. She was horny, and also angry with her own stupidity. 

Setting her teacup down hard, Lister stood up and came to Mariana. She slid her hand in Mariana’s hair and yanked her head back. Mariana exhaled a moan.

“I said, don’t talk about her. She’s not Charles.”

“You’re ruining my hairdo,” Mariana complained, her voice unsteady. She made a displeased face. “And really, you do smell of spaceships. Awful.”

“Maybe I’ll take you to bed like this, smelling of space.”

“Oh please don’t,” Mariana said. There was a breathless quality to her voice and spots of red had appeared on her cheeks. “It’ll never come off the sheets.”

“In that case, maybe I’ll fuck you on this coffee table then. I brought some of your favourite toys,” Lister whispered into Mariana’s ear and tightened her hold on the hair. She was pleased when she saw Mariana’s eyes glaze over with the thought.

“Oh. Hm. Did you bring the one that I particularly like?”

“Of course,” Lister hissed. “Nothing brings a scream out of you like that one.”

Mariana gave a faint laugh. “You’ll need to warm me up properly. It’s so… well-proportioned.”

Lister pushed her free hand into Mariana’s neckline and palmed her breast roughly. “Mmm. Or maybe I’ll just split you open with it as I please.” When Lister yanked her hair again, she saw the tendons in Mariana’s neck strain against the pull. ”And in whichever hole I please.”

Mariana exhaled. She was grasping the armrests of her chair white-knuckled. “Oh. Fred. Quickly now.”


	9. The Crown is Getting Heavy

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “I’m not a nice person, Ann.”

The week was both short and long for Ann. She busied herself with estate affairs, reading what she could of the tenants Lister employed as well as the promethium business. She learned a number of things, most surprisingly how highly her tenants and employees thought of Lister. It gave her pause as her image of Lister adjusted, became more complex.

Ann also visited Cliff Hill and it was such a joy to see her sister again. But when she slept in her childhood room, she felt out of place. Her dolls and games and even the pale blue walls seemed like from another life. This was not her any more, she was now a different Ann. The next day, she quickly escaped back to Shibden Hall.

And then, as Jupiter was again sliding into its dark phase in the sky, the  _ Velocity Engine _ returned. Ann watched it land from a high floor at Shibden, the ship and the people who disembarked like toys against the grey Ganymedean sand. She spotted Lister, immediately followed by a figure she did not recognise, distinctive in her red exosuit. 

“You brought Mariana back here, did you,” Ann muttered to herself. She felt a wealth of emotions at this thought, most of them small and unpleasant. She went back to her room and called for Eugenie to do her hair, all the while deciding on how to handle the matter of Mariana’s presence.

At dinnertime, when Ann descended to the dining room, she was pleased to notice her fuchsia dress clashed horribly with Mariana’s red one - as she had intended. She offered her hand and a smile to Mariana.

“Pleased to meet you,” Ann said and squeezed Mariana’s hand just strong enough to make her wince. “I’m Ann. I’ve heard so much about you.”

“From her?” Mariana asked and nodded towards Lister.

“No, from everyone else.”

That left Mariana nonplussed. Satisfied, Ann sat down at the table.

”Hello, Ann. How have you been?”

Ann took a deep breath and turned to Lister on her right. She was in her severe formals again, all black on black, her hair in the usual tightly wound updo. But she was smiling and looking at Ann with a mix of wariness and warmth. Ann hesitated for a moment, wondering if she should show her annoyance at Mariana’s presence. She decided against it; she would rise above it, as she had decided. So she decided on kindness and light.

”Very well, thank you,” Ann said with a small smile. ”It’s a very different Shibden without you.”

”How so?”

”Quieter in ways. Less harried. Servants singing in the hallways, even.”

Lister broke into a genuine smile and then laughed. The sound of that low laugh brought a familiar frisson to Ann. As much as she didn’t want to admit it to herself, it had also been a much duller Shibden without Lister.

”And how was your trip to Europa?”

Lister made a thoughtful sound and her gaze shifted to Mariana across the table. She sat back and sipped her wine. ”The usual. Awful weather. Otherwise terrible and terrific.”

Ann frowned. She was about to ask more but just then, soup was served and the moment was lost. Sighing, Ann focused on eating and engaged Aunt Anne into a conversation. 

After the main course and dessert, the servants poured port wine and tea. 

”So, Ann newly of clan Lister. Tell me about yourself. I’m dying to know more.”

Ann set her tea cup down slowly and then turned to look at Mariana. ”What would you like to know, Mrs Lawton?” She saw Mariana’s eyes darken at the informal address.

”To begin with, how on earth did you wind up here, married to this old trickster?” Mariana said and pointed at Lister with her wine glass.

Ann glanced at Lister, who was following their dialogue with idle curiosity. ”Providence, perhaps?”

”But really, Shibden? Was this the best your family could do for a marriage?”

”Oh, no - I’ve had several suitors come calling at Cliff Hill,” Ann said airily and waved her hand. ”Money is an attractive prospect, it seems.”

”Yet you took none of them?”

”Well, I cannot be expected to entertain each and every dullard flying in from Europa, can I?”

Ann heard Lister snort a laugh into her port glass. She did not look at her; instead, she kept her eyes steadily on Mariana. Mariana’s lips tightened into a white line and then she stood.

”Well, it’s getting late and it has been a long day of travel. I think I shall retire now. Thank you for the lovely dinner, Captain Lister. Anne.”

Ann watched Mariana storm out. She bit her lip and then downed her port wine in one gulp, hoping it would calm the nervous trembling of her hands.

”Might not be wise to upset Mariana so,” Lister whispered from next to her. Her tone was light. ”She makes a formidable enemy.”

”As if I care,” Ann whispered back. Her words were braver than she felt. 

Lister stood and laid her hand on Ann’s shoulder for a moment. ”Good night, Ann.”

Ann didn’t answer. Instead, she cupped her tea cup with both hands, feeling its warmth. She watched Lister leave as well and then pondered what she should do next. Stay up and chat with the family? Go to her room and sleep in that quiet bed alone again? Or perhaps…

Making her excuses, Ann hurried after Lister. She could not see her in the corridors but she knew where she would be going: the sixth floor, her rooms. Where Mariana was undoubtedly staying as well, Ann realised. The thought made all those ugly, jealous feelings from earlier surface again and Ann paused in the stairwell to catch her breath.

What did she want? Ann exhaled, calming her mind. She did not want to go back to her life at Cliff Hill. She did not want this strange, distant friendship with Lister, either - especially if it meant Lister was off sleeping with other women. She wanted… Ann closed her eyes tight, feeling the deep longing in her heart. 

”Oh god,” Ann whispered. 

She didn’t just want Lister in her bed. She wanted Lister to be her  _ wife,  _ and hers alone. And all that it entailed.

Her mind steeled, Ann picked up the voluminous skirts of her formal dress and took the lift upstairs. She got to the sixth floor and slowed down, peeking around the corner towards Lister’s doors. Her heart was racing.

Mariana and Lister were still in the hallway. Lister had Mariana pressed against the wall near the door, hand on her throat.

“I thought I made it very clear that you are not to talk about her in this manner,” Ann heard Lister say. There was an unsaid threat in her words.

“I’ll say whatever I please, Fred. Especially if it makes you do this to me,” Mariana said. She struggled against Lister’s hand at her throat but there was no conviction in it; it was merely for show. “Kiss me, you devil.”

Lister growled and then kissed Mariana on the mouth, roughly. Ann could hear Mariana’s muffled moan and she felt as if her blood had turned to ice.

“Get in,” Lister hissed to Mariana and marched into her rooms. The door closed behind them and Ann slumped against the wall.

What was she going to do now?

* * *

Lister sat down in her favourite armchair with a sigh. She watched Mariana walk around her room, taking the pins out of her hair. She fervently wished she had a drink in her hand.

“Why are you so hung up on upholding this charade that it’s a real marriage? It’s an Arrangement, Fred.”

Lister bit the inside of her cheek. She tasted blood. “Unlike you, I appreciate the concept of marriage. Regardless of how it came about.”

“Oh, you’re such a traditionalist.” Mariana’s hands in her hair paused and she rolled her eyes at Lister. “And besides, is this how you uphold your vows? By fucking me in what’s supposed to be your marital bed? Not that I’m complaining, mind you.”

Lister grimaced and closed her eyes. Mariana was right, of course. It was just that… what she felt for Ann was so complicated. There was acute, white hot desire she felt when she thought of her hands on Ann’s body, but there was a wealth of other emotions as well that she had mulled over during her week’s absence. The desire to protect. The joy of seeing her smile. The tickle of laughter when she watched the feisty side of Ann emerge. 

The embarrassing, tender warmth that suffused her when Ann was near her, looking at her with wonder in her eyes. Lister squeezed her eyes closed harder. And then she had fucked it up by being a horny, drunken lout.

“Are you all right?”

Lister opened her eyes. “I’m always all right,” she hissed, annoyed. Perhaps she could just take her frustrations out on Mariana - she certainly loved a bit of rough stuff. 

The door chime interrupted her thoughts.

“Enter,” Mariana called.

It was Ann. She did not come in; instead, she leaned against the doorjamb and hugged herself. Lister thought she looked so lovely in her fuchsia dress, regal and angry.

“Can I have a word with you, Anne?”

“Why?”

“Because we obviously have things to discuss and I don’t wish to do so in front of her,” Ann said and nodded at Mariana.

“But why not?” Mariana said lightly. 

“I wasn’t talking to you, Mrs Lawton. I was talking to my wife.” Ann’s eyes shifted back to Lister. She stood straight and smoothed her hands down her dress. “I’ll wait for you in your office.”

When Ann left and the door closed behind her, there was a tense silence in the room. Lister stood, feeling the pull of the decision she had to make here. Between one breath and the next, she decided: she would not run. Not now. Not any more.

“I’ll be back in a minute.”

Lister left before Mariana could verbalise her outrage and hurried down the corridor to her office; she did not know whether she should feel hopeful or fearful of what was about to happen. 

In her office, she found Ann standing in front of the floor to ceiling windows, her back to the door and eyes on the red sickle of Jupiter in the sky. The lights were off and only the pale glow of starlight illuminated the space.

“You wanted to talk.”

Ann turned and Lister saw there were tears in her eyes. Ann wiped them off with an angry gesture. “I did,” she said and exhaled a laugh that held no joy. “And now I can’t find the words.”

Lister paced closer. She took Ann’s hand in hers; she felt a tightness in her chest at the feel of Ann’s rapid pulse in her wrist. “I’m not a nice person, Ann.”

Ann tilted her head back and looked at the ceiling. “No, you’re not.” She looked back at Lister. Her pale eyes held anger and she pulled her hand away from Lister’s grasp. “But you are my wife, are you not?”

“Hm. I suppose I am.”

“You’ve… you have touched me, taken my virginity, and yet you’ve not even deigned to kiss me. Yet you kiss… that,” Ann said, her voice growing angry and tight, and jabbed a finger towards the door. “You treat her like she’s your wife and not me. Why?”

Lister stood still, rooted to the spot. She looked at Ann’s face, so lovely and so angry in the wan light. Unusually for her, she was at a loss for words. “I’m… I don’t know. Out of habit, perhaps. Mariana is an old vice.”

Ann waved her hand dismissively, clearly furious. “Oh, I’ve heard the whole sordid history. Why you let her do this to you, I cannot imagine! She’s a venomous snake.”

Lister bared her teeth. “Because I have a wife who runs away when I get too close, that’s why,” she hissed, some of her frustration bubbling to surface. “Would you rather I go fuck the whores at Voyager Bay?”

“No!” Ann yelled, her pale eyes flashing with anger. “I’d rather you f-, oh, fuck me, Anne. But I’m not a common whore, I’m your wife!”

Lister blinked, her flash of frustrated anger deflating with the surprise of Ann’s words. “Oh! Oh. Is that… it?”

“I won’t run away now, Anne,” Ann said and took a deep breath. The anger in her eyes shifted to sadness. “But I’m not a whore. Don’t treat me like one. Treat me like I’m your wife. If you want me, that is.”

Lister took Ann’s hand again and held it against her chest. The feel of it, through the black broadcloth of her shirt and waistcoat, was warm and comforting. “I wasn’t sure if you wanted to be my wife in the first place. Especially after what… what I did to you.”

“I do. I do want to be your wife, now that I know you better. I’m not afraid of you now.”

Lister’s heart skipped a painful beat. She cupped Ann’s cheek in her hand. Ann leaned into the touch and closed her eyes. “Oh, Ann. I’m so sorry. I’ve been…”

“A despicable git, a reprehensible bastard?”

Lister smiled wanly and was glad to see Ann smile back. “Don’t forget a disgusting drunkard.”

“Yes. But I’m willing to forgive you.”

Lister stroked Ann’s cheek with her thumb, enjoying the soft warmth of her skin. “How?”

”As I said. Treat me like your wife from now on. If you actually want me to be your wife.” 

Lister exhaled unsteadily. The answer came to her so very easily. “I do.”

“Good,” Ann said and stepped closer. She put her free hand on Lister’s waist. “Don’t come to my room drunk in the middle of the night for a sad fumble. I would like to do the proper thing. I want to have dinner with you, have a conversation, for you to hold my hand. For you to actually get to know me better.”

“That… hm. That sounds lovely.”

“And you could start by actually kissing me like you mean it, you lout.”

Without a word, Lister pulled Ann close with one hand on her waist, the other still cradling her cheek. Ann’s supple body felt wonderful pressed against her, warm and alive. And when she kissed Ann, Lister felt she could do this forever, enjoy the soft press of their lips and the spark that shot through her when her tongue touched Ann’s.

When they finally broke apart, Lister rested her forehead against Ann’s. “I’m so sorry for everything, Ann. I hate that your first time was so… crude. I’m sorry.”

“Well, make the next one better, then,” Ann said. Her voice was quiet and low and she ran her fingers down Lister’s cheek. She pulled back with a sigh. “I’m… I’m going to go now. We should continue this talk when she’s gone.”

“All right,” Lister whispered. She took Ann’s hand again and kissed it on the knuckles. “I will do the right thing, I promise. Good night, Ann.”

When Ann left, Lister locked her office door, sent her regrets to Mariana, and took out her half-full bottle of rice vodka. She laid down on the daybed in the library side of the room and stared out into the starfield, cradling the bottle. 

There was a spark of expectation, a warm comfort in her chest. She had not been completely forgiven yet, but perhaps there was now hope that she hadn’t fucked things up irreparably. A hope she hadn’t dared hold before this.


	10. Like a Conqueror

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “Where do you want this to go, Ann?” Seriously NSFW.

In the morning, Ann didn’t feel like going to breakfast. She felt exhausted, both from the late evening and the mountain of emotions she felt she had climbed the previous night. She dozed for a while and then spent a long time in bed, just staring at the grey ceiling, thinking of what and who she wanted to be. She felt restless but could not think of what to do with herself.

Mid-morning, the door chime sounded. Ann sat up in bed and said, “Enter.”

It was Cordingley with a tea tray. She set it on the bed next to Ann and smiled. “You didn’t come for breakfast so Eugenie and I thought to send you tea and some biscuits at least.”

Ann smiled and poured tea from the pot to a delicate cup decorated with the Lister livery. “Thank you, Cordingley. Very thoughtful of you.”

“You also missed all the excitement this morning.”

Ann blew into her tea to cool it and frowned. “What excitement?”

“Mrs Lawton. She was not happy to leave. Oh, the row they had in the front hall!” Cordingley pressed her hand to her chest. “I’ve not heard such language from either of them for years.”

“She’s gone?”

“As of two hours ago, yes.” Cordingley fingered the fringe of her tunic. “Mistress Lister was also wondering if you could join her for a late lunch this afternoon. In the dining room or perhaps in her private rooms?”

Ann hid her smile in her teacup. The tea was lovely and fragrant, probably imported from Mars at great cost. “Please let her know I’d love to join her for lunch. Maybe in her office if that’s possible.” She didn’t want to go to Lister’s rooms yet, not with the memory of Mariana there tainting the space. 

“Certainly, ma’am,” Cordingley said and curtsied. “You can set the tray outside in the corridor when you’re done, ma’am.”

Ann drank almost the whole pot of tea, had some of the biscuits, and then finally got up. She washed and then dithered for a while on what to wear, finally deciding on her favourite blue dress. She did her hair and then paused at the mirror, looking at herself. She was doing this now. She felt jittery with anticipation.

When she got up to Lister’s office she was already there, sat behind her enormous desk. She was wearing her usual elaborate black cravat over a tall-collared grey shirt, but her jacket was off. A covered tray was on a side table on the library side of the room. 

“Hemingway made us some finger foods,” Lister said and gestured towards the tray. “You get started. I’ll be with you in a minute.”

Ann glanced at the tray and then back at Lister. Making a snap decision, she rounded the desk and snatched the datapad from her hands. She tossed it on the table and turned Lister’s chair so that she was facing her.

“What are you doing, Ann?” Lister asked with a frown. 

Ann took in Lister’s puzzled look and grinned. She gathered her skirt and sat in Lister’s lap side-saddle. “I’m not hungry yet. Are you?” she said and wrapped her arms around Lister’s neck.

Lister made a surprised sound and then smiled. That smile made Ann feel weak and hot at the same time. “I could be persuaded to wait.”

Ann smiled and then leaned in to kiss Lister. Oh, it felt divine, the slide of soft lips against hers and the touch of Lister’s tongue on hers. And then Lister gently bit her lower lip; the sensation made Ann shiver and she felt a sudden warmth gather at the pit of her stomach. She mashed her mouth harder on Lister’s, groaning into the kiss.

When Ann pulled back to breathe, she felt lightheaded and her lips were tender. She licked them and looked at Lister. She was looking at Ann steadily, a question in her gaze.

“Where do you want this to go, Ann?”

Ann exhaled. It was so hard to think with Lister’s hands holding her by her corseted waist, strong and sure. She had thought of this moment all morning, on what she should do and also what she  _ actually _ wanted to do. She could stall and pretend what she wanted was lunch and light conversation when, were she completely honest with herself, all she wanted was Lister’s hands to explore every square inch of her. Never mind Mariana, never mind what she had been taught about the behaviour of proper ladies, never mind all the hurtful words. Those could and would stay in the past. What mattered was this immediate moment, right now.

Ann’s cheeks were aflame with sudden embarrassment but she had to say it out loud.

“I know I said I wanted to be wined and dined first,” Ann said, voice unsteady as she struggled through her words. “But right now I think we should continue where you left off a week ago. We can have lunch… afterwards.”

“Oh. Are you sure?”

Ann rushed on, fearing her resolve might break if she dithered with words. “And when I said treat me like your wife, I didn’t mean treat me like I’m this brittle, breakable thing. I’m not.” Ann paused and looked away. She whispered, “I’m… I think I like it when you’re forceful. I liked it when you took me and it’s, oh, when it got a bit too much. I liked that.”

Lister’s hands on her waist squeezed Ann. When Ann looked up again, Lister was staring at her, lips parted and dark eyes burning with naked desire. 

“Really?”

Ann bit her lower lip and nodded, feeling acutely self-conscious about her confession. It was not something a good girl like her was supposed to like, let alone admit to. But it was now out there and oh, the way Lister was looking at her... Ann thought she might come undone just from that gaze.

“Oh, Ann,” Lister murmured and took Ann’s face into her hands. “You’re full of surprises.”

Ann tugged at one end of Lister’s cravat. The complicated knot unravelled and Ann unwound the fabric from Lister’s throat. “Now then,” she said and started unbuttoning Lister’s shirt. “Can we get to it? Before I lose my nerve.”

Ann’s unbuttoning got interrupted when Lister suddenly scooped her up and stood. She plopped Ann’s behind down on the desk and came to stand between her legs. Ann hummed her delight into the hot and hard kiss that followed; she pulled Lister closer by her open collars. Lister’s hands wound into her hair, tugging it loose from its pins and fasteners. 

When Lister yanked her head back by the hair, Ann swayed. And when Lister’s mouth slid hotly down her throat, she couldn’t hold back her groan. 

”Oh, god, Anne,” she managed, her words trailing to a cry as Lister sank her teeth into her shoulder. ”Ah!”

Lister kissed and nipped up along her neck. In her ear, Lister whispered, ”You wanted it hard and rough, Ann.”

”Oh yes,” Ann moaned, her breath hitching when Lister caught her earlobe between her teeth. ”I did say that. Ah…”

Lister paused and looked Ann in the eye. “But I mean it, seriously. If you say stop, I stop.”

“I understood the first time,” Ann said, impatient. “Go on. Please.”

Ann felt Lister tug the lacings of her bodice loose and then her hands pushed the dress off her shoulders. Lister kissed a path down Ann’s neck down to her shoulder and once there, she inhaled.

“Mmm. I love this perfume,” Lister said in a low voice. “So delicate.”

Ann exhaled unsteadily, grasping at the waistband of Lister’s trousers with her now sweaty hands. She pulled her closer, right between her legs, not knowing what she could do to make Lister hurry the hell up and get her naked because the anticipation was killing her. But with all the skirt hems between them, Ann couldn’t get Lister any closer to where she wanted her.

“Oh god,” Ann breathed when Lister’s teeth grazed her shoulder. She felt Lister push the bodice down past her breasts and her nipples, now exposed, puckered in the cool air of the office. When Lister’s shirt brushed against them, Ann shuddered. “Can I…”

“Can you what?” Lister asked against her neck, her lips there and hands palming Ann’s breasts with just the right amount of squeeze.

Ann slid off into the tight space between the desk and Lister. With one hand, she pressed Lister’s head against her neck and with the other, she pulled down her dress. When the dress finally pooled around her ankles, she kicked it off to the side. 

“So impatient,” Lister said with a smile against her neck, thumbs swiping across Ann’s nipples in a truly maddening fashion. “We’re not in a hurry, Ann.”

Ann swallowed, her hips twitching at the sparks her nipples were sending across her body. “I am.”

“Mmm. I can tell.”

Then Lister backed off, sitting down in her chair, her hands firmly on Ann’s hips. She regarded her thoughtfully for a silent moment, her very pink tongue wetting her lower lip. Her thumbs slid under the lower edge of Ann’s corset. 

“I think we’ll leave the corset on,” Lister murmured, her gaze meandering down from Ann’s eyes to her breasts. “You’ll squirm less.”

“Oh,” Ann breathed. Then Lister’s mouth was on her breast, sucking hard; Ann had to hold on to the desk to stay upright because her knees buckled at the sharp, hot fire Lister’s mouth had sparked in her. A flood of warmth boiled in her and she was sure she was already dripping wet. “Ah! Oh Anne...”

She heard Lister’s approving hum against her breast and then Lister pinched her other nipple with her fingers, hard. Ann’s head lolled back and she moaned, her grip white-knuckled on the edge of the desk. She squirmed as much as her corset allowed, stuck as she was between Lister’s chair and the desk. 

When Lister’s mouth finally let go of her nipple, Ann was panting, her insides quivering with heat and want. Lister cupped both her breasts and looked at them appraisingly.

“You are so tempting, Ann. I’ve had so much trouble keeping my hands off you.”

Ann exhaled a tremulous laugh. “And you’ve not always succeeded, either.”

Lister smiled up at her and rolled her nipples between her fingers. Ann shivered and exhaled a breathy cry; she didn’t know how much of this she could take without exploding. Mercifully Lister let go and her hands slid down Ann’s corseted waist to her hips. Ann held her breath when Lister slipped a finger between her legs, tracing the outline of her sex through the knickers. Ann could feel the soaking wet spot there.

“Well now, Ann. So very wet already.”

Ann flushed with shyness again at her obvious arousal. She opened her mouth to say something but the thought died on her lips when Lister’s finger dipped into her knickers and ran the length of her folds. It sent a shock of heat through her and she moaned again.

“Now you’re teasing,” Ann accused breathlessly.

Lister put the finger into her mouth and as Ann watched, her eyes glazed over. “Mmm, oh, I can’t wait to taste you properly, Ann.”

Ann wound her hand into Lister’s cravat, still loosely draped around her neck. She pulled at it. “Get on with it, then, you tease.”

Lister stood and yanked her cravat off Ann’s grasp. With one hard push on Ann’s chest, she tipped Ann over to lay down on the hard stone desk. Ann’s breath caught at the cold shock of the stone against her back but she couldn’t get up or move, not with Lister’s hand pushing her down on her sternum.

Lister leaned in closer to Ann, her other hand giving Ann’s thigh a hard squeeze. “Let’s make one thing clear here. If we do this, I set the pace.” She came to stand between Ann’s legs again and her knuckles ghosted over Ann’s sex. “Not you. You do that again and I will tie you up.”

Ann’s eyes fluttered closed at Lister’s touch, still so ghostly and light. “You promise?” she breathed.

She heard Lister laugh. “Oh I see, that’s how it is.”

Ann held her breath when Lister tugged her knickers off and then, as Lister’s fingers slid through her wetness, she exhaled a moan of relief. Finally. She twisted against the firm, hard press of Lister’s hand on her chest but it would not yield; that and the constriction of her corset meant she could not move much at all. She grasped Lister’s arm by the bicep and spread her legs, hoping to invite Lister to hurry up.

But of course, Lister wouldn’t hurry. When Ann opened her eyes and lifted her head to look, she saw a small, delighted smile on Lister’s face as she gazed down at her hand stroking Ann’s sex.

“You are so lovely, Ann. So pretty, so wet. Outside…” she said and then looked up at Ann. “And in.”

Then Lister pushed a finger into Ann and she groaned, her head falling back on the table with a thump. Her fingers and toes curled at the sensation, at the rough invasion that mingled pleasure with pain. Ann dug her fingernails into Lister’s arm and spread her legs even more. Lister’s fingers retreated and then thrust back in, now forceful.

“Oh god, oh Anne,” Ann whimpered. She wanted to squirm, force more of Lister in her, but she still couldn’t do anything but lie down and take the hard thrusts. “Ah, so good.”

Lister moved her hand from her chest and pinched her nipple. Her fingers inside Ann curled and touched something so white-hot and wonderful that Ann trembled on the desk. And then Lister pushed in more fingers and Ann felt that she was stretched to her limits.

“Oh, that’s… that’s, ah, so much,” she ground out, willing herself to relax. She was sweating, her back now slick against the hard stone. 

“And you are so receptive, Ann. Oh, so wet I can feel you drip between my fingers. It’s wonderful,” Lister whispered, breathing hard, her voice thick with lust. “If only you could see yourself like this.”

Ann could only moan, the hard slap of Lister’s hand against her sex and the fiery, hard press of her fingers into her overwhelming her every sense. When the pace slowed down, Ann drew in a shaky breath and looked up. Lister had sat back down in her chair and her hot, wet mouth was on Ann’s inner thigh. The anticipation of what was to come made Ann’s insides coil tighter and hotter.

Lister licked along her labia, then nipped at it with her teeth, and Ann twitched at the feel of her hot, wet tongue. “Mmm. Eugenie has done an excellent job.”

“Ah, remind me to-” Ann hissed out and then she forgot all about talking when Lister wrapped both arms around Ann’s hips and put her mouth fully on Ann.

Ann’s eyes rolled back in her head. Her mouth fell open but no words came out because it was just indescribable how she felt. Lister sucked and licked her clit and it was the most intense pain-pleasure Ann had ever felt; her instinct was to squirm away from it but she couldn’t, not with Lister’s arms holding her still. She could just take it, her breath coming in pained gasps. 

Pleasure built quickly within Ann, a white-hot supernova that gathered tension whenever she felt her clit between Lister’s lips. She pressed her heels into Lister’s shoulders, willing her to just keep doing that, that magical long swipe with the flat of her tongue and then the hot slurp as she sucked her clit into her mouth fully. Ann was so close already, so close.

But then Lister gave Ann one last slow lick and then stood abruptly. “Hm, This just won’t do.”

Ann groaned and smacked the desk with her palm, annoyed at her release being denied. “Ah. God. What… what are you doing, Anne?”

Lister didn’t reply. Instead, one hand firmly on Ann’s thigh, she leaned over and typed something on her desk’s control panel. Ann heard a loud, deep thrum that echoed around the room and suddenly she felt much lighter. The sensation was odd and she exhaled her surprise. Then Lister scooped her up in her arms as if she were a feather pillow and jumped lightly on the desk.

“Oh, Anne! What are you doing?”

Lister smiled down at her and squeezed her closer. “I cycled the power to this floor’s gravity enhancers.”

With one deft bounce, she leapt off the desk and next to the daybed. She tossed Ann onto the pillows and laid down on top of her, pinning Ann down with her fractional weight. Ann jerked and moaned when Lister sank her teeth into her neck and then licked the spot soothingly. It was going to leave a mark, Ann thought hazily, but did not care.

“They should reboot to normal… now.”

Suddenly, Ann’s limbs felt like lead and even more disconcertingly, Lister on top of her went from feeling like a pillow to the hard, heavy weight of a body. Ann exhaled in shock. 

“Oh!”

“Mmm. And this is much better. More space.”

“And, oh, better for my back,” Ann murmured, her thoughts seizing as Lister slid down and sucked on her breast again. She slid her hands through Lister’s hair, undoing her ponytail in the process. “Oh that’s good...”

“I don’t know how you can be this lovely all over,” Lister said and nosed Ann’s nipple. “So stunning.”

“I, ah, try,” Ann said unsteadily. She pushed on Lister’s shoulder, hoping she would stop dawdling at her breasts and go back to doing the wonderful things her hot mouth had been doing to her clit while on the desk.

Lister caught Ann’s wrist. Ann looked up and saw Lister staring at her, chin and mouth still gleaming with her wetness, her expression wicked. “Oh, Ann. We talked about this, remember?”

Before Ann could answer, Lister sat up and deftly twisted Ann around onto her stomach. Ann heard the swift sound of Lister pulling her cravat off her neck and then its silky length wrapped around her wrists, just so. Lister tied her wrists together and then threaded the ends of the cravat through the back lacing of her corset, immobilising her hands completely against the small of her back.

An exhilarating frisson shot through Ann. She tested the knots but they would not give, no matter how hard she pulled. She turned her head as much as she could and looked at Lister. “You, ah, seem very pleased with yourself.”

Lister laughed and slapped Ann on the arse, not too strong but hard enough that it stung. Ann jerked with the surprise and then groaned at the warmth that spread across her cheek. A new bubble of wetness flooded her sex.

“I am. You make such a pretty package, tied up like this.”

“Well, um, now that you have me here,” Ann said unsteadily. She tested the knots again, in vain. “What’re you going to do with me then?”

Lister kissed her on the cheek. “I’m going to touch you everywhere. And I mean everywhere.”

“Ah, that’s…” Ann said and trailed off. Delicious fear of the unknown shot through her, dark and dangerous and fiery hot. 

Lister pushed Ann’s legs apart and knelt down on her thigh, her knee pressing against Ann’s other leg. Ann felt the light touch of her fingers on her inner thighs and then she slapped Ann on the arse again. Ann exhaled a moan, her toes curling at the sting of it. Lister squeezed her tender cheeks and then spread them. Her fingers brushed around Ann’s other hole.

A cold shiver went through Ann. This was new and unexpected. She twisted and looked up at Lister. “Anne?” she asked, unsure of what her actual question was. 

Lister’s fingers slid through Ann’s sopping wet folds. She spread that wetness everywhere, on her labia and thighs, between her arse cheeks, along the crease where her thigh began. 

”Oh. I can’t believe how wet you are, Ann. So fucking delicious.”

Ann panted at the hot, scratchy sound in Lister’s voice. Her hips shivered and bucked at this unhurried exploration and at Lister’s unbridled enjoyment on what she was doing to Ann.

Lister leaned over on one elbow and kissed Ann’s jaw, then her cheek, and then her earlobe. “It delights me to no end to know I’m the first and only one who’s been here, Ann,” she whispered into Ann’s ear. Her low voice thrilled Ann, it was so full of lust and longing. “That I’m the one to teach you these new pleasures.”

With that, Lister brushed her wet thumb across Ann’s puckered hole and then pushed it in. 

“Ahh!” Ann groaned into the pillows, her eyes screwed shut. Her back and leg muscles tensed at the new, odd sensation in her arse. It was a completely novel mixture of pain and pleasure.

“Relax into it, Ann. Breathe slowly and it’ll start feeling good. I promise.”

Lister’s heated words in her ear helped and Ann took deep breaths, willing her muscles to relax. And then Lister slid her other fingers back into Ann’s wet hole and she forgot all about the pain in her sphincter.

“Oh, Anne,” she moaned and struggled against her bindings. But she couldn’t move at all, not with her hands tied and with Lister half on top of her. She clenched around Lister’s fingers, feeling the stretch and strain of her sopping flesh. “Oh, I’m… so full. Everywhere. Oh fuck, Anne.”

Lister’s lips and teeth traced Ann’s shoulder. “I can’t tell you how good you feel, Ann,” Lister murmured against Ann’s sweat-slick back. She pushed her thumb further in; sharp, odd pleasure shot through Ann. “So tight and perfect everywhere. Such a good girl.”

With one final kiss on Ann’s twitching back, Lister sat up and slid to kneel between Ann’s legs. Ann twisted and looked back at her, the binding on her hands making the position awkward. Lister’s face was alight with excitement and lust as she looked down at her hand that pushed into Ann.

Ann put her face against the pillows again, breathing long and deep. It felt as if she was being split open in the middle, the pressure on both her holes nearly unbearable yet so absolutely perfect. And then Lister’s other hand came to brush her clit, the calluses of her fingers rough on her swollen, sensitised nub.

“Oh fuck! Oh god,” Ann moaned into the pillow. She canted her hips up, desperate. “Oh don’t tease Anne, please…”

Lister pulled her fingers out of Ann and thrust them back in, hard. Ann saw stars; the pain in her arse was gone, replaced by an exotic, obscene pleasure. It got hotter, wetter, higher at every savage thrust of Lister’s hand.

”Oh, Ann,” Lister whispered. ”I can’t believe I get to fuck you like this. God you’re so hot.”

Ann groaned at Lister’s heated words. ”I didn’t know it would, oh, be so... oh god!”

Lister’s other hand was slicking tight circles around Ann’s clit, winding her pleasure tighter and tighter. Ann spread her legs wider, as far as they would go, whining and squirming at the pace of Lister’s hand splitting her open.

“And, Ann. Oh, that I’m the first and only one to fuck you this hard. Oh fuck…”

Ann pulled at the tie binding her so hard she heard the fabric groan, but it would not give. “God, Anne, ahh,” she groaned, eyes screwed shut, every muscle tense and shivering. She was focused on nothing but Lister’s hands in her and on her, fucking her. Nothing else existed.

“And you’re going to come harder than you’ve ever made yourself come, Ann,” Lister hissed savagely. She slapped Ann on her arse again and then took her fingers back to Ann’s clit. ”I promise.”

Lister’s vigorous thrusts made Ann jerk and moan, each hard press of her fingers into her pushing her closer to the edge. She couldn’t think or see or feel anything but the release she felt gathering in her loins.

“Oh, Ann. You’re near, aren’t you.”

Ann writhed on the daybed, her body on fire, her thoughts scattered by Lister’s words and the white-hot magic of her hands. ”Don’t stop, Anne,” she moaned, voice hoarse. ”I’m nearly… oh, Anne!”

One last sublime brush of Lister’s fingers on her clit and she was transported, the pleasure in her going supernova, burning in her and along her limbs in endless waves. Ann sobbed into the pillow, twitching through the pleasure for long, blissful moments.

The pleasure left her spent and shivering as it slowly retreated. Ann squeezed her hands into fists as Lister pulled out of her, listening to the blood thundering in her ears and the pained whine of her breath. Lister laid down on her and though it was uncomfortable on her bound hands, Ann didn’t care; she enjoyed the weight of her and the quiet, light kisses she peppered on Ann’s neck and shoulders. 

“You are such a delight, Ann,” Lister murmured into her ear. “You did so well.”

“That was,” Ann managed, catching her breath. “That...”

Lister laughed, a low and lovely sound. “Yes, I agree.” She got up and slapped Ann once more on the arse. “And now I need wine.”

Ann turned on the daybed as much as she could and looked at Lister as she marched out of the room. “How about untying me first?” Ann called after her, but the door had already closed. Ann slumped back down, giggling with adrenaline and amusement.

Lister returned with a carafe of wine and two glasses. She set them on the side table and plopped herself down into one of the armchairs in front of the bookshelves.

With difficulty, Ann levered herself up onto her knees on the daybed. “Are you seriously not going to untie me?”

A playful smile came to Lister’s lips. “I’m enjoying you far too much like this,” she said and poured herself a glass of wine. She uncovered the plate on the table. “Oh, fabulous. My favourites.”

Ann pursed her lips, thinking. She knew Lister would take the cravat off if she asked, but perhaps… Ann eyed Lister, sprawled out in her chair and looking supremely relaxed and pleased with herself. Ann’s acute need had been sated but her curiosity remained. And this really was an outrageous game Ann found she enjoyed. She blushed at her dirty thought but then, with a deep breath, decided to ignore the bashful, ashamed side of her.

Ann got up off the daybed and walked to Lister, who was watching her with idle curiosity, eating with one hand and the other holding her glass. 

“Yes?” Lister asked and sipped her wine.

Ann knelt down between Lister’s legs and rested her cheek on the inside of her thigh. Lister blinked and Ann saw the curiosity in her eyes shift to definite interest. Ann closed her eyes and rubbed her cheek on the slick, warm fabric of the trousers.

“Could I entice you to untie me?”

“How, pray tell?”

Ann slid her nose along the inner seam of Lister’s trousers to her groin. She nipped at the tight fabric there and then looked up, biting her lower lip to keep her grin at bay. “Please?”

A wealth of emotions flashed across Lister’s face, from amazement and outrage to amusement and arousal. Settling on good humour, Lister popped the rest of her food into her mouth and licked her fingers clean. She stroked Ann’s cheek with the back of her hand.

“Well now. I didn’t realise my wife was… like this.”

“So is that a yes?”

”Hm. You did get me all worked up,” Lister said and ran her own fingers across the inner seam of her trousers, thigh to thigh. Ann watched their path in thrall. 

Lister leaned over and undid the knots of her cravat on Ann’s wrists. Ann wiggled her fingers and stretched her shoulders, feeling the strain of being bound for so long. Lister sat back, wineglass still in hand, and gazed at Ann indulgently.

After a moment of indecision, Ann stood and pulled off Lister’s boots one at a time. She tossed them aside and got back on her knees, hands on Lister’s thighs. She looked into Lister’s dark eyes and smiled tremulously.

“I, uh…” Ann said and trailed off, her cheeks aflame with embarrassment again.

“Don’t worry, Ann. I’ll tell you what to do,” Lister said with a smile. “Go on.”

Her tongue between her teeth, Ann undid the magnetic closure of Lister’s trousers. She pulled them down by the waistband, aided by Lister lifting herself off the chair. Ann managed to get the tight trousers all the way to Lister’s calves but no further, because Lister wound her free hand into Ann’s hair and yanked her close.

Ann exhaled in delight and leaned in for a kiss. Lister’s lips tasted of the artificial wine, strong and sour; Ann moaned when Lister’s tongue invaded her mouth with hot fervour. And then Lister pushed her head down.

“Get on with it,” Lister whispered. Her voice was tight with tension.

Ann sat on her haunches and licked her lips nervously. She brushed her thumbs along the black fabric of Lister’s knickers, feeling the soft flesh underneath, and then looked up. Lister was looking at her steadily, expectantly, her hand stroking Ann’s hair still. Ann pulled the knickers aside and before she lost her nerve entirely, she put her mouth on Lister’s sex.

The scent and taste and feel of it was not as she had expected at all. When she ran her tongue experimentally along the folds, it tasted strong and musky, but it was also so soft and slick and wonderful. Ann hummed in delight and scooted closer, her fingers digging into Lister’s thighs. 

“Oh, Ann, good girl,” Lister groaned. Ann shivered at the words, so languid and carnal and pleased. She saw Lister set her wine glass down on the table; her hand was shaking, too.

Ann had no idea what she was doing but Lister’s other hand on her cheek guided her. She experimentally kissed along the labia to Lister’s inner thigh, licking the tendon there and enjoying the feel of Lister’s muscles jumping under her touch. But then Lister’s hand tightened in her hair and guided her head back; Ann smiled, amused by Lister’s impatience.

“Ah, harder, Ann. Don’t be so fucking coy.”

Ann sank her fingernails into Lister’s thighs and opened her mouth more, finding the hard pearl of Lister’s clitoris between the soft folds. She sucked it between her lips and was rewarded by a heartfelt groan from Lister. Both of Lister’s hands were now in her hair, fingers drawing nervous patterns in her scalp; Ann felt Lister’s legs tremble at the strain of concentration. Ann hummed into the wet flesh at her face, ecstatic.

Ann sucked harder on Lister’s clit, finding a rhythm, and her eyes fluttered closed at the sounds Lister made, so tense and needy. Her hips jerked and ground her sex against Ann’s face; Ann’s head was held in a vice grip, so hard Ann could do nothing but hold on, breathe, and keep her mouth steady. And when Lister released in her mouth with a tense scream, Ann held her legs tight, enjoying the bliss of Lister’s sex fluttering against her tongue.

When Lister let go of her hair, Ann stayed for a while, licking away the gathered moisture and nosing her way through the softness of her folds, learning every shape and form. She hummed in pleasure and opened her eyes. Lister was gazing at her, dark eyes languid with pleasure and wonder.

Ann wiped her face dry with her hand and sat down on the floor, still leaning against Lister’s legs. “That was… also fantastic, Anne.” 

Lister rearranged her knickers and picked up a food cube from the plate. “I do believe it’s you who is fantastic. Hungry?” she asked, her voice still rough and unsteady. She popped the food cube into Ann’s mouth.

“Mmm, that’s good.” Ann chewed and she found that she was suddenly ravenous. “Could we… could we go back to the daybed? I want to get out of this corset, too,” she said and stood up. 

“A splendid idea.”

Lister stood, kicked off her trousers, and undid the lacing of Ann’s corset before gently taking it off. Ann hummed, pleased, and snatched one more food cube from the plate before she took it to the daybed. 

Lister brought the carafe and glasses and set them on the floor next to the daybed. She laid down and beckoned Ann to join her. Ann laid her head down on Lister’s chest and draped one leg over Lister’s. She sighed and closed her eyes, feeling perfectly content. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> PSA: for ligature or rope (or cravat) bondage, always keep your bandage scissors nearby. 
> 
> Fun fact: bandage scissors are known also as Lister bandage scissors! For real.


	11. Down the Street of My Soul

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “Something is wrong. It’s too still and quiet.”

When Lister awoke the next morning, her very first thought was Ann and how absolutely perfect she was - with her head between Lister’s legs, blue eyes looking up at her, simultaneously curious and shy and eager. Ann humming into her soaking wet core, sucking her dry, Lister’s hands pulling her hair so hard. And then afterwards, Ann’s smiling face had gleamed with Lister’s arousal, her mouth raw and red from Lister riding her tongue. 

Lister shivered with pleasure at the memory. So good. What Ann had lacked in skill she had certainly made up in enthusiasm.

Lister opened her eyes and then remembered they had slept the night in her office, on the daybed, under the waxing crescent Jupiter in the sky. Lister laced her fingers behind her head and gazed up at the star-speckled sky with a smile, and then looked at Ann, still asleep next to her under the blankets. 

This girl, so pliable and supple and obscene and bright, so willing to please and so wild as well. So completely unlike Mariana or Isabella or any of her previous lovers or whores. Lister ghosted her hand over Ann’s pale shoulder, not wanting to wake her up yet. How serendipitous the Arrangement had been, she could now see. She could grow to be very fond of this girl - indeed, she felt it was already too late to stop her feelings from overwhelming her usual caution. 

With a sigh, Lister got up and smoothed her hands down her shirt. She had slept in it so it was in a world of wrinkles. She checked the time and sent a message to the servants for new clothes, her mining undersuit, and breakfast.

Ann’s eyes opened finally when the door chime sounded and Hemingway came in, arms laden with clothes and a breakfast tray. Lister sat at her desk and watched, quite amused, as Ann turned various shades of pink while trying to avoid Hemingway’s eye. As she dug into the blankets, Lister came to sit by her. 

Lister patted the Ann-shaped lump under the covers and said, “Thank you, Hemingway. Please let Booth know I’ll be downstairs at the usual time and he is to prepare my armour for today.”

“Very well, madam,” Hemingway said and curtsied. Lister was certain there was a hint of a grin on her face. 

When Hemingway left, Ann sat up and wrapped the covers around herself. Lister stood and poured them both tea. She started on her porridge and got dressed in the thick undersuit at the same time. 

“I have to get to the mine today. I’ve been away so long, goodness knows what the men have been up to in the meanwhile.”

Ann sipped her tea. “But you’ll be back for dinner?”

“I will, of course,” Lister said. Her hands stilled where she was untangling her regulator tubing. “Will you… will you come to my bed tonight?”

Ann made a thoughtful sound. “If Mariana is all gone.”

“I’ll have the servant change the sheets and, hell, all the air in the room. I promise.”

“In that case, yes.”

Lister smiled and sat down next to Ann again. She ran the backs of her fingers along Ann’s bare arm, marvelling at the goosebumps that rose there. So sensitive and inviting. Her insides twisted with familiar fire. “I wish I could stay here,” Lister said, voice gone low. 

Ann caught Lister’s hand. She brought it to her lips. “The thought is thrilling but I’m afraid you somewhat broke me last night. I am so sore everywhere.”

Lister pulled the blankets from Ann’s chest and bent down to kiss her pink nipple. It hardened against her lips immediately. “Oh Ann,” Lister murmured, hearing Ann’s sharp intake of breath. “So lovely.”

“I, ah, I don’t know if it feels good or hurts. Oh…”

Lister straightened and kissed Ann on the mouth, slow and sweet, memorising the feel and touch of Ann’s lips on hers. She cupped Ann’s breast and brushed her thumb over the peaked nipple. “I’ll have Eugenie draw you a bath, for quicker recovery,” she said against Ann’s lips. “I have things I want to teach you tonight.”

Ann’s pale eyes unfocused and a blush rose to her chest and cheeks. “Oh. Um.”

Lister kissed her one last time and then stood up, putting distance between herself and temptation. 

“Have some breakfast. You’ll need your strength,” Lister said to Ann with a grin. She threw the tubing net on her shoulders and wrapped the arm tubes on. A thought came to her. “Oh, and do you remember when you first arrived at Shibden and you came to my office, by yourself?”

Ann blinked. “You know about that?”

“Of course I do, I keep access logs. But I don’t care - it’s only, do you remember the book you took down from my shelf?”

“No, I don’t,” Ann said, looking curious.

“The book’s there, on the other chair, if you want something to read today,” Lister said and winked. “I’ve marked my favourite passage.”

Ann smiled. “Thank you, Anne. Have a safe day in the mines.”

“See you tonight.”

When Lister marched down the corridors and got to the back staircase, she went down two stairs at a time. There was a bounce to her step that had nothing to do with low gravity; she felt elated and light.

“Good morning, Booth. How are you?”   


Booth smiled and wiped his nose. “Morning guv’nor. You’re looking bright and chipper today.”

“It’s a day packed with potential,” Lister said and whacked him on the shoulder. “Let’s go see how Argus has been doing overnight.”

“No error reports have come in, I’ve checked.”

“Excellent,” Lister said and turned to the antechamber, which was already full of her miners. “Everyone, suit up! Time to go.”

Lister’s good mood lasted through the troop carrier ride up to the mine and then to the main entrance. She stopped at the main boring hole, three stories tall, and laid her hand on the side wall. Sound could not be heard in the thin exosphere but the tremors Argus caused were usually palpable even through the thick armour plating of her mining armour.

“Something is wrong. It’s too still and quiet.” Lister turned and barked into her comm, “Booth, you’re with me. Everyone else, stay here.” 

Booth’s voice crackled in her ear, “Yes, guv’nor.”

Lister bounded into the mine with loping steps. The lights were on but there was a faint white mist in the air; Lister could hear her radiation indicator sputter hard and she checked the levels on her wrist display. Frowning at it, she continued further down. Silence and unknown vapours did not bode well. 

At the lowest level, rounding the corner to the central chamber, Lister came to a stop. Instead of a grey rock floor, there was now a churning lake of ammonia, glistening in the remaining lights. Argus was partially sunk into the lake at the far end and Lister could see workers scurrying along its access walkways. Warmed by the ambient radiation, the ammonia was vaporising in a white haze that rose slowly from the top of the lake.

“Fuck,” Lister hissed, heart beating hard, and keyed in her short-range comm. “Washington! Talk to me.”

One of the workers on Argus paused and looked their way, waving; Sam Washington was the night shift boss. He slid down a ladder to the lowest level of Argus and then jumped into the murky ammonia lake. It came up to his waist and he waded slowly to them.

“Ma’am,” Washington said when he got to the shore. He sounded exhausted. “This happened two hours ago, an underground lake flooded us and the tertiary pit both. It also knocked down the comm junction and its backup, that’s why we couldn’t get any messages out.”

“Fuck,” Lister said again and whacked her glove against the wall. “Is anyone hurt?”

“No, but there is a danger of additional flooding. Argus has also sunk into the ground from his operating position, and the more sensitive parts of Argus are not going to like a prolonged ammonia bath.”

“What’s the-”

Lister was interrupted by a loud tremble that they could not hear but that shook the ground they were standing on. She just had time to shove Booth and Washington against the rock face when an enormous section of the far wall next to Argus disintegrated and a great flood of ammonia rushed into the chamber. Lister grabbed the wall but it was in vain - she was swept into the darkness by the irresistible force of the thundering, frigid stream.

* * *

Ann spent a leisurely morning with her breakfast and many cups of tea, stretching on the daybed. Her back was sore and her knees hurt from kneeling; when she pulled on the clothes Hemingway had brought, Ann had to wince. She touched her parts gingerly and decided a bath would do her a world of good. 

On impulse, Ann sat at Lister’s desk and twirled her chair around, then called up the control panel. She keyed in her entry - it still felt strange when she saw herself listed as  _ Ann Lister  _ \- and rang her sister.

Elizabeth smiled on the screen. “Ann! How lovely to see you!”

Ann leaned her elbow on the desk and her chin on her hand. “Oh love, I’ve missed you,” she said, a pang of longing in her. It was the one thing she missed about Cliff Hill, seeing her sister daily. “How are things?”

“Oh, the usual. The Priestleys are up here for a luncheon so thank you for rescuing me from that,” Elizabeth laughed and then leaned closer conspiratorially. “Eliza is still not over old Rawson selling you to Lister with an Arrangement. I’ve heard about nothing else.”

Ann frowned at Elizabeth’s choice of words, even if it was somewhat true. Ann glanced towards the windows and Ganymede One beyond them, finding Cliff Hill easily in the jumble of lights. 

“Well, Eliza Priestley can choke on her outrage for all I care. Or maybe Anne and I should come over for dinner and sort it out with her.”

“I would love to see you here, Ann, of course. And, hm, Mistress Lister as well.” Elizabeth said and made an amused face. “Or Anne, as she now apparently is to you.”

Ann coloured faintly pink. “Oh, erm, yes,” she said and tugged her collar higher. She was sure Elizabeth could see the bite mark on her neck. 

“And how are you getting on over there?” Elizabeth frowned. “Where are you, by the way? This isn’t your room, is it?”

“This is, uhm, Anne’s office. I was just here looking for some reading material,” Ann said, resolutely not looking at the desk or the daybed, or the chair where she had learned what Anne tasted like. Ann felt flustered. “She collects books, you see. Actual books, when they still used to print them on paper.”

“Oh, how curious!”

“So, dinner at Cliff Hill? WIll you let me know which dates suit the clan best?”

Elizabeth smiled. “I will, Ann. Soon. It will be lovely to see you again, to get to hug you properly.”

“Oh Elizabeth, I do miss you dearly.”

After goodbyes, Ann swiveled around in the chair again and then went to the bookshelves. She picked up the book Lister had mentioned and turned it in her hands.  _ The Collected Works of Sappho,  _ the cover said. Ann smoothed her hand over the ancient book, marvelling at how such a thing had ended up here, at the far end of the known solar system, and in such good condition. 

Ann sat in the chair and opened the book where there was a slim, black strand of silk between pages. On the page was a drawing of an ancient Greek statue of a woman and on the opposite page, a poem.

_ Sweet mother, I cannot weave - _

_ slender Aphrodite has overcome me _

_ with longing for a girl. _

Ann bit her lip but couldn’t suppress her smile. Warmth bloomed in her chest and she hugged the book.

The previous day hadn’t gone exactly as she had anticipated but she didn’t care - it had been so much better. She had been drunk on Lister’s power and strength, so willingly surrendering to the filthy, magical things Lister had done to her. The memory of her orgasm made Ann shiver even now. She was looking forward to the evening and whatever new pleasures Lister was going to help her discover.

Her distracted thoughts were interrupted by Eugenie barging in, panting. “Madam! Please come downstairs, quick. The pit has collapsed!”

* * *

Lister opened and closed her jaw inside her helmet, annoyed at the sensation of drying blood on her face. She pressed the emergency patch against her side armour again, even though she knew it was self-sealing. Her head hurt and her whole body hurt from being banged around in her armour. 

“How is he?” she barked, whacking the younger Booth on the arm.

Joseph turned to Lister, blinking rapidly inside his helmet. He glanced at the bulky machine strapped to John Booth’s chest panel. “Stable but probably not for long.”

“We’ll be at Shibden in five minutes. Don’t worry, Joseph. He’s tough.”

Joseph knelt next to his brother again, checking his vitals. Lister glanced towards the other end of the troop transport where Washington sat, his arm at an odd angle and one side of his armour liberally covered in orange emergency patches. Lister bared her teeth. There would be a time for an investigation on what went wrong and how big of a financial disaster this was but for now, she needed to focus on her people.

When they got to Shibden, Lister made sure Booth and Washington were first through the decontamination showers, and then the rest of her men. She went last and stood in the acid shower that neutralised the ammonia that had immediately started to vaporise in the warm inside air; it would take a long time for the rotten, caustic smell of today’s disaster to dissipate from her armour. When the acid ran clean and no vapours remained, she stepped into the antechamber and gingerly took off her helmet.

It was an organised chaos, all of the household staff alerted to help in getting the miners out of their armour. Lister saw her medic barking orders to the people undressing Washington and Booth; they were both pale and bloody inside their helmets, but clearly alive. She sat down at a side bench, feeling exhausted and battered, and looked down at her hands. The black armour plating was dulled and pitted by her caustic ammonia bath.

“Anne!”

Lister looked up, blinking. She saw Ann rush towards her, eyes wide with alarm, and warmth blossomed in her chest. Oh, lord, this was what she had almost lost today. She stood and pulled Ann into a fierce embrace, lifting her easily off the ground in the low gravity. 

“Good lord, Ann,” Lister rasped, resting her forehead against Ann’s. “You are a sight for sore eyes.”

Ann made a strangled sound. “Are you hurt?” she managed.

“Oh, sorry,” Lister said and put Ann down. She detached her gloves and tossed them aside. “I’m fine. Unlike Booth and Washington. I’m just banged up a bit.”

“And very smelly.”

Lister exhaled a laugh. “Ammonia.”

“Let me get you out of that armour and cleaned. Eugenie will draw you a bath.”

“Sounds good.” Lister leaned against the wall and closed her eyes. She felt Ann take her hand. 

“Come on, Anne. Let’s get you sorted properly.”


	12. And All the Things That You Do

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “I was so scared for you today.” NSFW

Ann watched impatiently as Eugenie filled the bathtub in Lister’s bathroom with hot water. She declined Eugenie’s offer of assistance and shooed her out of the door.

When Ann returned to the bathroom, Lister was struggling out of her regulator tube mesh. When successful, she dropped it on the floor and tried to undo the catch of her undersuit but winced.

”Can I?” Ann asked and laid her hand on Lister’s shoulder.

”Please.”

Ann peeled the black undersuit off Lister, taking care not to touch the various bruises and contusions that were spread across her skin. She tried not to stare too much when she helped Lister into the tub. Lister sank into the warm, scented water with a heartfelt groan.

Ann doused a sterile pad with water and patted away the crusted blood from Lister’s face. ”This one is going to leave a scar,” Ann said as she sealed the cut with the microdermal pen. It went from eyebrow to jawline, ragged and deep.

”It’ll add character to my rakish visage,” Lister murmured. Her eyes were closed and she looked exhausted. 

Ann ran the dermal pen across the contusions on Lister’s arms; it would help them heal faster. Finally, she cleaned up the medkit and sat down on a stool next to the tub with a sigh. The adrenaline rush of her fear was draining, leaving her tired as well.

Smoothing her hand along Lister’s bare, wet arm on the tub rim, Ann marvelled how her life had changed so profoundly in just a few weeks. How she had gone from her simple and safe life at Cliff Hill to this, to a place where she felt this intense, confusing jumble of emotions for someone else. For this woman. Ann brushed her fingers over a cut on Lister’s shoulder, relishing the ability to touch so freely. 

Ann’s eyes wandered from Lister’s shoulder down to the tub, to the soft swell of Lister’s breasts and then beyond. Lister’s skin gleamed in the low, warm lights of the bathroom, the hard planes of muscle on her chest and shoulders slowly shifting as she breathed. Ann bit her tongue. Lister’s nipples were a darker shade of pink than hers, so tempting just under the water. 

“You’re staring,” Lister said, eyes still closed. “I can feel it.”

Ann blinked and smiled, feeling bashful. “Well, I suppose I am. This is the first time I’ve seen you naked.”

Lister opened her eyes. Her lips twitched in amusement. “So it is. I wish it had happened under more auspicious circumstances.”

“Is auspicious what we’re calling it now?” Ann said and trailed her fingers across Lister’s chest, right at the edge of the water. 

“You can touch me if you’d like, Ann.”

Ann met Lister’s gaze, her pulse picking up at the warm, indulgent look in the dark eyes. “Really?” Ann whispered.

“Just… don’t get me too excited. I’m not good for much now.”

“You’re excused for tonight,” Ann said. She pulled her sleeves up and dipped her hand into the warm, fragrant water. 

Lister’s skin felt slick and smooth under the water. Ann hummed in delight. She ran her knuckles along the underside of Lister’s breasts and then glanced at Lister. Her dark eyes were half-lidded, a small smile playing on her lips. Ann bit her lip and looked back into the water as she brushed her fingertips over the inviting nipple. A shiver went through Lister; it made the water ripple. 

The weight of Lister’s breast was delicious and Ann’s lips parted in a breathy sigh at the feel of it. So incredible, so new and exciting to her. Ann circled the nipple with her thumb and watched as it peaked. Hypnotised, she did the same to the other nipple and then slid her hand further down into the water. She felt Lister’s abdominals quiver under her touch.

“Oh, hm. I thought I told you not to get me too excited?”

Ann kissed Lister’s arm and noticed she was grasping the edge of the tub quite hard. “I was aiming for relaxing.”

“I’m not relaxed,” Lister said. Her voice had gone thick and low. “But don’t stop.”

Ann held her breath and slid her hand lower. When her fingertips parted Lister’s labia, she exhaled and closed her eyes, focusing on what she was feeling. She touched wetness that was slicker and hotter than water and the softness she had felt with her tongue the previous day. She heard Lister make a tense sound deep in her throat and then Lister brought her knees up and spread her legs. Ann took that as an invitation; she felt her hand tremble in anticipation.

Ann pressed against Lister’s clitoris, feeling it slip between her fingers; it made Lister’s legs jerk and water sloshed against the sides of the tub. Ann slid her fingers lower still, fingertips circling Lister’s opening. She breathed a moan; doing this to Lister, this woman, here and now, made Ann acutely aware of the wetness that was fast soaking her own underwear. It was so spectacularly arousing.

Ann opened her eyes and looked at Lister, who was regarding her with eyes that were full of heat. “Go on,” Lister murmured.

“Is… it’s all right?” Ann whispered.

“If it wasn’t, I’d tell you. Go on.”

Not knowing at all what to expect, Ann slid her finger into Lister. She was tight and hot and when Lister’s muscles squeezed her finger, Ann’s insides twisted into something fiery and heavy. Lister’s hand slid into Ann’s hair, combing through her tangled curls.

“Anne,” Ann whispered, breathless in the moment. “You feel so…”

“More,” Lister groaned. Her head was resting against the tall back of the tub, her face a study in focus. Her breathing was laboured and Ann could see the stark tension in the muscles of her neck and shoulders.

Ann pushed in another finger and pressed the heel of her hand against Lister’s folds as she slid her fingers in and out. Her wrist hurt because of the awkward position and she dropped to her knees next to the tub. She watched her hand between Lister’s legs in the depths of the tub, Lister’s shivers making the water ripple and churn. The sight was so acutely erotic Ann forgot to breathe for a moment.

Grinding her palm firmer against Lister’s clit, Ann grasped Lister’s shoulder for leverage. Lister’s words were now pained gasps, her eyes closed and chest heaving. Her hand in Ann’s hair tightened and then she moaned out loud; Ann felt the rapid flutter of her orgasm on her fingers and it was the strangest, hottest feeling she had ever felt. 

“Ahh,” Lister sighed, her body sinking back into the water with a wince. “Oh god, Ann.”

Ann withdrew her fingers with regret and slid her hand along Lister’s thigh. The muscles there were twitching still. “I’m sorry it wasn’t more relaxing.”

Lister exhaled a laugh and opened her eyes. “I’m not complaining.” There was a tired rasp to her voice.

Ann leaned in for a kiss, mindful of the cut on Lister’s face. Lister’s mouth tasted sour with adrenaline and the dry air of the mining armour, but Ann didn’t care. She was getting used to the feel and touch of Lister’s lips, so soft and wonderful; she thought she could just kiss her for days on end and never get bored.

When Ann sat back down, she touched the cut on Lister’s face, now just an angry red welt. “It occurs to me that the first time I saw you, you also had caked blood on your face.”

Lister regarded Ann with good humour. “I remember. We really should stop meeting like this.”

“I was so scared for you today.”

“I know. I was…” Lister said but then trailed off into silence. Ann sensed this was something that was still too fresh and raw for Lister to talk about. Perhaps later, she would. 

“Do you want to get out now? I’ll dry you off and then you should get to bed.”

Lister stood in the tub with a heartfelt groan. Ann was momentarily mesmerised again by her naked, wet body, even in its bruised and battered state. Lister obviously noticed because she laughed and snatched the towel from Ann.

“The bed, you say?”

“I said you’re excused for tonight,” Ann said, regretful. “You need to get better.”

Cordingley brought them a dinner tray and they ate in bed. Lister dozed off quickly but Ann stayed up reading, her hand tangled in Lister’s silky dark hair on the pillow next to her. Just as she was about to turn off the lights, Ann’s wrist display pinged with a message.

_ Dinner with the extended clan, this Saturday at the usual time. Bring Anne. - Elizabeth _

* * *

Lister rolled the plastipaper into a roll, massaging it tighter and tighter until it was as thin as it could get. She stuck it upright into the large rosemary planter next to her and wiped her hands on her trousers though they were not dirty. Taking a step back from the letter, she looked up through the glass ceiling. She consciously avoided doing what she always did and so did not seek out Europa in the sky.

The air in the conservatory was hot and humid, artificially so because little sunlight reached Ganymede. Lister liked it for thinking; being surrounded by such alien greenery and the scent of two dozen kitchen herbs helped her get away from too familiar thought patterns.

Lister heard the door open. It was Ann. “How are you?”

“I’m doing fine,” Ann replied and took Lister’s hand. “I was just visiting Booth and Washington.”

“Mmm. How are they doing?”

“Booth will be up in a day or two. Washington’s arm will… well. It’s going to take a bit longer.”

Lister bit the inside of her cheek. “Oh hell.”

“I know.” Ann smoothed her thumb over Lister’s knuckles. “So what are you brooding here about?”

“I’m not brooding.”

Ann glanced up at her, grinning. “You were gazing darkly into middle distance. That’s brooding.”

Lister gave Ann a look. “Mmm. Well, yes. I got a letter from Mariana. Hand-delivered, even, as if it were a formal invitation.”

“So. What was it?”

Lister glanced at the tightly rolled up plastipaper and grimaced. The expression pulled on the new scar on her face. “A lot of it I won’t repeat to you but let’s just say she’s upset how this Arrangement has unbalanced our normal relationship pattern.”

Ann made a thoughtful sound and looked up into the star-speckled sky. “Are you upset?”

Lister squeezed her hand. “No. But…”

“She still has the capacity to hurt you.” Ann said, more a statement than a question.

Lister turned to look at the landscape again. She squinted into the grey twilight. “Hm. It’s almost time, I think.”

“Time for what?”

“I come here for two reasons.” Lister gestured at the large control panel at the far end of the conservatory. “The weather station is here,” she said, checking her wrist display, “and I want to see the surveyor drones come in for a recharge when I can.”

“Surveyor drones?”

By way of reply, Lister pointed out the window. There was a dark cloud moving across the monochrome landscape, its shape shifting nervously as it rapidly hurtled towards Shibden Hall. At the last minute, the cloud changed direction and sped upwards. It passed the conservatory as a great, nervous shadow, the small machines but a blur, and then it was gone. 

“Oh! Well. That was interesting,” Ann said. “So much I’ve yet to learn of this place.”

Lister pressed Ann’s hand between her palms. “So tomorrow we go to Cliff Hill for dinner. How about tonight, any thoughts?”

Ann bit her lower lip, smiling in that damn coy manner that made Lister’s blood turn to quicksilver. Ann came closer and tucked her fingers into the waistband of Lister’s trousers. 

“Depends.”

“Depends on?”

“How well you feel,” Ann said and pulled Lister closer. Her fingertips danced further, circling Lister’s waist and then slid down at the back. Lister exhaled; Ann’s fingers were wriggling further into her trousers, kneading her lower back. Lister pulled her close, hands on Ann’s ribs; she felt her quickened exhale.

“I feel well enough,” Lister whispered into Ann’s ear. Her body still felt stiff and tender at places but at least she could move without wincing now. “And I recall there’s a promise I made before this unfortunate business.”

“About?”

“About teaching you new pleasures.”

Ann shivered in her arms and then mashed her mouth against Lister’s, wet and urgent. When they kissed, Ann’s hands slid up Lister’s back, under her shirt. Lister hooked one hand on the neckline of Ann’s dress and tugged it down enough so that her fingertips reached Ann’s nipple. She pinched it and when Ann’s lips parted in a moan, she thrust her tongue into Ann’s mouth.

When Lister pulled back, Ann’s eyes had glazed over and she was licking her lips. Lister smiled. She knew if she were to push Ann against the wall and hike her skirts up right here and now, she would find Ann already wet and waiting. The thought thrilled her, heat rushing through her veins.

“You find us food for dinner,” Lister said and kissed the tip of Ann’s nose, “I’ll meet you in my rooms.”

Ann poked her in the belly. When she looked at Lister, there was anticipation in her eyes. “Our rooms.”

Lister nodded with a smile. “Quite right.”

When Ann left, Lister stood thoughtfully for a moment, tapping her fingers against her abdomen. Would Ann be ready for… that? 

Well, there was only one way to find out.


	13. Patience is a Game

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “So for tonight, Ann. Do you know what this is?” Hilariously NSFW

Ann balanced the food-laden tray with both hands as she hurried the last steps to Lister’s - their! - rooms. Once in, she set the tray down onto the sideboard.

“You changed, too.”

Ann turned to Lister who was sprawled out in a lounge chair, still in her normal daytime outfit of black trousers and white shirt. Ann grinned and fingered the knot on the belt of her light blue robe. “I wanted to get out of that corset.”

Lister clicked her tongue. “And here I was looking forward to not letting you out of your corset tonight. Hm. Come here then,” she said, tilting her head as a come-hither.

Ann crossed the room to Lister and knelt down between her knees, feeling impish. The stone floor was cold and hard but she didn’t mind. Lister leaned forward and parted Ann’s robe at the neckline with two fingers, pushing the fabric aside until Ann’s breast was exposed. Excitement skittered over Ann’s chest and arms. 

“Well. I like this for the easy access, at least.”

“Me, too,” Ann said, a bit faintly.

Lister circled Ann’s nipple with her finger and then ran her hand along Ann’s sleeve to her hand. She placed the hand on her thigh, the fabric of her trousers smooth and warm. “So for tonight, Ann,” Lister said and slid Ann’s hand along her leg to her groin. “Do you know what this is?”

Along the inside of Lister’s thigh, a substantial lump was distending the tight fabric of her trousers. Ann ran her hand along the length of it, frowning, not understanding what it was. And then, just as she found it ended at Lister’s crotch, it hit her. Her breath coming out in a rush, Ann looked up into Lister’s eyes; inside her robe, she felt the warm twinge of arousal flooding her knickers.

“It’s a…” Ann started but found she didn’t have a name for it. It was just something she had heard about once, in a fleeting drunken joke that she had not been meant to overhear.

“Yes, it is,” Lister murmured and pulled Ann to a kiss by the lapels of her robe. It was a hot, impatient kiss, Lister’s teeth grazing her lower lip in a way that made Ann tremble. All the while, she felt the shape of the lump with her hand; its unyielding girth both scared and aroused Ann. 

Ann pulled her lip from between Lister’s teeth and, now intensely curious, grasped Lister’s thighs hard. “Can I see it?”

“Please,” Lister said and licked her lips. There was a new gleam in her eyes, full of fire. Ann could tell she was restraining herself, going slow, for Ann’s sake.

Nervous, hands trembling, Ann undid the catch of Lister’s trousers and reached in. She found something that was both hard and pliable, silken to touch and warm from Lister’s body heat. She pulled it out and it sprang upright in the fly of Lister’s trousers. Ann felt her inner muscles squeeze at the sight. It was black and glossy and to Ann’s eye, quite large. That… that  _ thing _ was going to fit in her?

“So. Hm. How do you like my cock, Ann?”

Ann tore her eyes away from the object. Lister was regarding her steadily, a small smirk twisting her lips. “It’s a, uh, well,” Ann said, her mouth suddenly dry. All of her fluids seemed to have gathered at her groin; she felt she had already soaked through her knickers. She felt a bit scared as well but mostly she was just turned on, trusting Lister to know how and when to use the thing. “I think that… um. You should take me to bed now, Anne,” she managed, quite breathless now. 

Lister smiled. “Lead the way.”

Ann took Lister by the hand and pulled her up from the chair. At bedside, Lister paused and undid the knot on the belt of Ann’s robe, parting the two halves. She ran her hand down from Ann’s throat to her stomach. “So lovely,” she muttered, seemingly more to herself than to Ann.

“Come on, then,” Ann said and pulled Lister to a wet, sloppy kiss by her shirt. She undid the buttons as they kissed; Ann’s fingers trembled but finally she got the shirt open and off Lister’s shoulders, followed by her bra. All the while, she was acutely aware of the hard press of the cock on her hip, right inside her robe.

Lister pushed the robe off Ann’s shoulders and then guided them both down onto the bed, one hand on Ann’s neck keeping her firmly in the hot, inelegant kiss. Once horizontal, Ann moaned into Lister’s mouth, her hands tangling in Lister’s loose hair, her heel hooking behind Lister’s thigh to pull her closer. The feel of Lister’s breasts against her own, the cold slide of her trousers against her legs and the new, unyielding feel of the cock between them was turning her insides to a hot storm. 

Lister rolled off onto her side. Her hand slipped between Ann’s legs and fingered the wet spot on her knickers. “So Ann,” Lister said, her nose tracing Ann’s jawline. “I take this as a yes?”

Ann’s hands nervous in Lister’s hair, she spread her legs. “Please,” she whispered, looking into Lister’s eyes, willing her to hurry up.

Lister kissed her on the nose. “If it’s too much then tell me.”

“Oh,” Ann said breathlessly. “You know I like it when it’s too much.”

Lister made a hot sound deep in her throat and pulled Ann closer. When she kissed Ann, it was a possessive, forceful kiss, her tongue fucking Ann’s mouth until Ann thought she would burst. Ann tore her mouth away and turned to her side, her arse pressing into Lister’s groin. Immediately, Lister’s hands snaked around her to cup her breasts, squeezing them.

“Oh Ann, fuck,” Lister said hotly against Ann’s shoulder. Ann felt Lister pull down her knickers just enough for her arse to be bare and then the shaft of the cock slid along her cheeks. It felt cool and hard. “If only you could see how hot this looks, my cock on you. How amazing you look.”

Ann arched her back, grinding herself against the cock. Lister pressed her nipples between thumb and index fingers, rolling them and pulling roughly. Ann fisted her hands into the sheets, her body twitching and shivering with the shocks of pleasure from her breasts. 

“Put it in me,” Ann hissed, canting her hips, pushing back. She needed something, anything, in her.

“Hmm. Maybe,” Lister replied against Ann’s shoulder blade. Her words were hot against Ann’s skin, in rapid breaths that told Ann she was just as affected by this. 

Lister took one hand off Ann’s breast just long enough to slip the cock into Ann’s knickers where it slid along her wet centre but did not go into her. Lister’s hand came back to her breast, squeezing it hard, nipple clamped between index and middle finger.

“That’s… oh, not what I meant,” Ann ground out. She spread her legs so that the hard shaft slid between her folds, touching her clit with maddening lack of pressure. “Anne, please.”

Lister laughed between her shoulder blades and, letting go of her breasts, grasped Ann’s hip with one hand. She pulled Ann onto her back and knelt between Ann’s legs. Panting and shivering, Ann lifted herself onto her elbows to look at Lister, eyes darting between Lister’s eyes and her cock. 

“What is it, Anne? I thought you liked it from… from behind?” she asked, licking her lips. “I, uh, like you behind me.”

“Not this time,” Lister said and ran her hands along Ann’s legs from shin to her hips. She pressed hr thumbs on the wet patch in Ann’s knickers and smiled. “This first time, I want to see your face when I put my cock in you.”

Ann couldn’t help her moan. “Oh god Anne,” she breathed and lifted her knees up, spreading her legs. Her core throbbed with need at Lister’s words. “Hurry up. Please.”

Lister tugged her knickers off and slid her fingers between Ann’s folds. Ann trembled. She was so very wet and when Lister ran her gleaming fingers along the black shaft, leaving behind a wet trail, Ann reached out. With a desperate sound, she tugged Lister closer by her trouser fronts. Lister pushed Ann’s knees against her chest, spreading her wide open. Lister’s eyes were on Ann’s sex, her cock just out of Ann’s reach, poking at the tendon at the top of Ann’s thigh. 

“Oh Ann,” Lister said, voice scratchy and tense. “So wet and ready again.”

“Ah, put it in me,” Ann managed. She breathed hard, mouth open, as she watched Lister grasp the shaft and run it along her wet folds, sliding over her swollen clit. The jolt of pleasure from that made Ann shiver but it was not what she wanted. “N-now, before I burst.”

When Lister teased her opening with the head of the cock, Ann whined and tried to shift her hips closer to it. She couldn’t, not with Lister’s hand grasping the back of her thigh hard, pressing her leg against her stomach. So she held her breath, straining her neck, just in time to see the first half inch of the cock slip into her. 

“Oh,” Ann said faintly, jaw slack, as she stared where their bodies joined. She didn’t know what was more arousing, the press of the cock stretching her or the sight of it disappearing into her, oh so slowly. “Oh, god,  _ Anne,”  _ she moaned and her arms gave out. She slumped on the bed, eyes rolling back in her head.

“God, Ann. How perfect you are,” Lister breathed. ”How perfect you look with my cock splitting you open. Oh fuck.”

Ann’s mouth was open but no sound came out. The cock in her was so different from fingers, cool at first and now warming quickly, smooth and unyielding, so large that she felt her inner muscles strain around it. It was almost painfully big, but Ann didn’t care. It felt  _ so _ good. And then she was filled to the hilt, Lister’s hip bones and harness and her trousers pressed against her.

“Oh, oh god, ah,” Ann gasped. She re-focused her eyes on Lister who was looking down at her with such unbridled lust, lips parted as she breathed hard. Ann grasped her arm. “Come here.”.

Lister obliged, coming down onto her elbows. Ann tangled her hands into Lister’s hair and pulled her into a hot, hard kiss where their teeth and tongues clashed. Ann wrapped her legs around Lister’s waist, locking her ankles together at the small of Lister’s back. Moaning into Lister’s mouth, Ann squirmed, the cock a still, heavy weight in her that was driving her mad.

When Lister moved her hips, driving the cock out and back in, hot fire bloomed inside Ann. Lister set a measured pace, pulling out slow and then thrusting back in harder; Ann tore her mouth away from Lister’s and moaned at every thrust, her inhalations a painful whine. She felt as if she was on fire, the cock stretching her almost unbearably, its smooth slide touching her in places inside her that were completely new.

“Ah, Anne,” she whimpered, holding Lister by her hair with both hands, shivering at every thrust. Lister was looking at her face with such wonder and desire that Ann was almost undone by it then and there. “That… you feel, oh, so good…”

“You feel so amazing, Ann. You are…” Lister breathed but did not finish her sentence. Her breathing was coming in great gasps as she thrust into Ann, her back and hips shifting under Ann’s calves. “Oh god I love fucking you, Ann. You are so perfect.”

Ann moaned, her eyelids fluttering with the overwhelming pleasure. She resolutely kept her eyes open, staring into Lister’s dark eyes, watching her watch her. Lister quickened her pace and the fire within Ann was stoked higher, tighter. Every thrust filled her to a degree she hadn’t thought possible, so completely and fully. 

“I don’t, oh, I don’t think I’ve ever been this full,” Ann breathed, canting her hips to meet each press of Lister’s cock. “Your cock, oh Anne, it’s like nothing else, like no-one else. Oh god…”

“Ah, Ann,” Lister ground out. “Oh, you’re going to make me come if you talk like that.”

Ann whined and groaned, grabbing Lister by the hair harder, bracing herself to meet each thrust fully. The wet dirty sound of the cock fucking her and the slap of Lister’s hips against her ass and thighs were maddening, so obscene and so hot. 

“Oh f- oh, Anne! Oh fuck, so good, your cock feels so good. Harder, fuck me like only you can,” Ann moaned, breathing hard. She didn’t know who this Ann was that was saying these filthy words but she didn’t care; she felt too good to care, every inch of her on fire as Lister fucked her. And she loved what her words were obviously doing to Lister.

Ann saw Lister’s eyes glaze over. “Ohh, god, Ann,” Lister groaned and closed her eyes. She was breathing in great painful gasps, the pace of her thrusting getting erratic, harder, faster as she fucked Ann into the mattress. And then her mouth fell open in a groan and a great shudder went through her.

Ann watched Lister come, speechless, her hands hard in Lister’s hair. The look of transport on Lister’s face was so surprised and so complete that Ann wanted to remember it forever. And when Lister slumped on top of her, Ann caught her, hugging her with arms and legs both.

For a long moment, Lister just breathed against Ann’s neck, her body shivering with the aftershocks of her release. When she got up on her elbows again, she kissed Ann on the cheek, her fingers carding through Ann’s hair with what felt like reverence. She moved to Ann’s mouth; the kiss was delightful and sweet and soft. 

“That was… unexpected,” Ann said against Lister’s lips.

“You are so bewitching and lovely that I can’t help myself,” Lister whispered, her voice hoarse and spent. She kissed Ann on the chin and then her nose, and then pulled out of her slowly. Ann sighed with the loss of it when Lister rolled off her. On her back, Lister wriggled her trousers down to mid-thigh. “Come here, then.”

Ann got up on her knees, her legs still trembling. She straddled Lister’s hips and looked down at Lister’s hand on her cock, guiding it in her. The black cock shone with her wetness, slick and slippery; it looked impossibly arousing to Ann and new wetness dripped from her onto the shaft. Her need throbbing hard and hot in her loins, she sat slowly down, feeling the cock distend her insides, so large and firm.

“Oh, oh, oh god,” Ann breathed, her eyes closing as she swallowed, trying to relax her muscles around the pressure inside her. She slid slowly down the shaft until she was fully seated. “Oh hell,” she ground out, bracing her hands against Lister’s stomach.

“Too much?”

Ann opened her eyes and found Lister smirking at her. “Yes goddamn too much,” Ann said between her teeth. “You know how to pick them.”

Lister smiled and then put her hands on Ann’s hips, helping her lift up a bit and then back down. Ann followed the pace Lister set, slowly moving, the cock sliding slick in and out of her. She straightened and picked up speed, bouncing harder against Lister’s hips. Shivers ran through her and she brushed her hands through her hair, moaning with the pleasure of the solid pressure in her.

“Ann," Lister groaned. “You are so perfect like this. Oh god.”

Ann focused her eyes on Lister, saw the desire pool in her dark eyes as she watched, slack-jawed, at Ann. White-hot pleasure shot through Ann; she had never felt so acutely wanted, so beautiful and so desirable. Lister’s hands grasped Ann’s waist in a vice grip, her hips shifting at Ann’s pace so that the cock drove into her harder and faster. Ann’s breathing hitched. 

“Will you...” Ann moaned, her legs and voice trembling, “Anne, oh, please touch me...”

Lister’s hand moved from her waist and then her fingers brushed against Ann’s clit. The touch jolted Ann and she sat down hard, shoving Lister’s cock deep inside her. Her eyes rolled back at the feeling.

“Ann, oh, I can feel my cock on my fingers, going into you. You are so swollen and slippery and ready, aren’t you?”

“Oh, yes,” Ann moaned. She braced her hands on Lister’s ribs, riding her harder, their hips smacking together. Lister’s fingers on her clit were breathing fire into her release, every swipe and swirl coiling Ann’s pleasure tighter in her groin. 

“You are so hot, riding my cock, Ann,” Lister hissed, breathing hard. “So fucking hot I don’t have words for it.”

“Harder, oh, more,” Ann groaned, her hips shuddering. Lister pressed hard on her clit, sliding the nub between two fingers, and Ann’s pleasure rose to a breaking point. “Oh, Anne!” she screamed as her release exploded in her, muscles fluttering around the hard, slick shaft still fucking her. The wave of pleasure overwhelmed her, every muscle and tendon shivering with electricity, and all Ann could do was sob and cry through it.

At last, Ann slumped down, spent and shivering with aftershocks, her breath coming in great gasps. She hissed as Lister slipped her cock out and then relaxed back against Lister’s chest, both of them slick with sweat now. 

“Oh, oh god,” Ann murmured. She heard Lister’s rapid heartbeat where her head was pressed against Lister’s chest. 

Lister exhaled a laugh and then Ann felt her shift around, reaching to undo the harness. She tossed the cock off the side of the bed and then wrapped her arms around Ann. 

“You are,” Lister murmured and kissed the top of Ann’s head, “in a word, luminous.”

“You, always with the fancy words.” Ann smiled and turned her head so that she could look at Lister. She pursed her lips. “But I can’t believe you never took your trousers off.”

“Wasn’t enough time, I think”, Lister said, looking smug. ”You were getting so impatient.”

Ann ran her fingers across the hard ridge of Lister’s collarbone. “Don’t look so pleased with yourself now.”

“I would never.”

Ann smiled at Lister. She enjoyed this closeness, still so new to her but there was now also familiarity to it. The air in the room and in between them felt charged with sated pleasure. The solid, warm presence of Lister’s body under her, still slick with their combined sweat and scented with their sex, was her new favourite thing.

“You know, Anne. When my auntie told me I’d be marrying you, do you know what I imagined my life to be like here?”

Lister blinked and looked at her. “I haven’t a clue,” she said, sounding intrigued.

Ann bit her lower lip. “I thought life at Shibden Hall would be very dull and chaste.”

Lister laughed, deep and genuine. She squeezed Ann in her arms. “And so, has it been? Dull and chaste?”

Ann grinned and stroked Lister’s jawline with her fingers. “Very dull. Very chaste.”

* * *

“Are you sure you’re okay to do this? We can always postpone.”

“I’m fine, Ann,” Lister said and frowned at her image in the mirror. The long cut on her face was still a red weal but at least the bruising had faded. 

“I’m just looking for an excuse to postpone, really.”

Lister turned and looped the black cravat around her neck. She pulled the cravat tight and with sureness brought by years of practice, knotted its elaborate bow around her collars. Tugging the knot into place, she tucked the ends of the cravat into her high-collared, tight-cut jacket.

“You don’t want to see your sister?”

Ann, sitting at the foot of the bed, was having her hair done by Eugenie. Lister thought she looked very fetching in her purple formal gown. 

“I do. It’s the rest of the clan I’m iffy about.”

“Hm. I wonder if the Rawson brothers will be there.”

Ann looked at her and cocked her head. “Why?”

“Because I figured out they’re at fault for the mine collapse,” Lister said and grimaced. She touched the cut on her face gingerly. “Though proving it will be complicated.”

Ann stood up. Behind her, Eugenie rolled her eyes. “Really?” Ann said, coming to stand next to Lister. “How do you figure so?”

“They were making their experimental forays last year near the lake estuary. I checked the last survey scans and it seems their willy-nilly tunnelling weakened the walls between the main shaft and the lake.”

“Oh no,” Ann said, her hand on her mouth. “That’s awful!”

Lister shrugged on her overcoat and checked her hair in the mirror. Satisfied, she took Ann’s hand. “Not to worry. They’ll get what’s coming to them. Let’s go.”

The journey from Shibden to Cliff Hill was short. They were met in the front hall by Ann’s sister. Lister smiled as she watched Ann squeeze Elizabeth into a hug and then she looked around. Cliff Hill was certainly grand in construction, from its soaring ceilings and elaborate light sculptures to the tapestries and actual imported wood furniture that lined the walls. Ostentatious displays of money, little history, Lister concluded. 

“How lovely to see you again,” Elizabeth said and shook Lister’s hand. “It’s so nice to have this opportunity for us to get better acquainted.”

“Likewise, Miss Walker,” Lister said and smiled her best smile. “Thank you for the invite. Most kind of you. I wonder, are the Rawson brothers coming as well?”

Elizabeth made a confused face. “I’m afraid not. They cancelled today for some inexplicable reason.

“I do fear that reason might be me,” Lister said and pursed her lips. “Shall we go through?”

When they sat down for dinner, Lister was disappointed to see that the entire Rawson side of the family was missing from the table. Shame, but of course it meant the inevitable confrontation was only postponed, not off. 

Dinner conversation was pleasant enough but with the Priestleys studiously ignoring her and Ann’s aunt offering opinions mostly on hydroponics and local politics, Lister felt bored by the time they were done with dessert. She poked at the remains of her glazed pears with her fork, listening to the aunt monologue with half an ear - and then she felt Ann’s hand glide along her thigh.

Lister’s eyes narrowed. She looked down and indeed, under the partial camouflage of the tablecloth and Lister’s voluminous napkin, Ann’s fingers were skittering across her leg. Lister glanced at Ann whose head was turned towards her sister on her other side, having a lively discussion on something having to do with the local gentlemen courting Elizabeth. And yet, Ann’s fingers found the inner seam of Lister’s trousers and slid along it to her groin.

Keeping her breath steady, Lister nodded to whatever Aunt Ann was saying. She spread her legs a bit and immediately Ann’s fingers pressed down on the center seam between them. Barely suppressing the jolt she felt, Lister ground her teeth together. Her hand was clutching her dessert fork white-knuckled. The audacity of the woman! She glanced at Ann again, and this time she was looking at her, clearly smirking.

“Ann,” Lister whispered hotly. “Stop it.”

Ann gave her a measured look and then stood abruptly. “Thank you, auntie and Liz. What a wonderful dinner! Now, I think I’ll give Anne a tour of the house before coffee.”

Lister tossed her dessert fork on her plate and stood, feeling a bit weak in the knees. “Thank you, excellent. Yes. Tour of the house. Please.”

They escaped the dining room together and got all the way to the second floor landing before Lister decided enough was enough and pressed Ann into the wall between an armoire and a tasteless statue. She kissed her roughly, squeezing Ann’s narrow waist as she felt Ann’s hands grasp her shoulders hard. Lister pushed her tongue in Ann’s mouth, feeling fire ignite in her loins at the desperate sound Ann moaned into her mouth.

“Which room?” Lister growled against Ann’s lips.

“Ah, third door. My room,” Ann breathed, and then hissed when Lister bit down on her neck. “Oh, quickly now, Anne.”

When Ann closed the door behind them, Lister grabbed Ann and pushed her against it, chest first. Pressing Ann with her body, from hip to shoulder, Lister ran her lips along Ann’s bare shoulder. 

“You start dangerous things, Ann.”

“You were bored,” Ann said breathlessly, smiling.

“Not bored now. Gather up your skirts.”

Lister felt Ann shiver against her and she did as told, scooping up her voluminous hems into her arms. Lister reached around and grabbed Ann’s breasts through her bodice, squeezing hard. Ann exhaled a moan.

“Spread your legs,” Lister whispered. “And be quiet, unless you want to be heard.”

Ann made a frustrated whine that made Lister’s arousal flare hotter. Giving Ann’s breasts one last squeeze, Lister reached around the hems Ann was cradling and found her bare thigh amidst all the fabric. She ran her fingernails along the skin there; Ann twisted and shivered again.

“Hold still and be quiet, I said,” Lister hissed. She let go of Ann’s breast and moved her hand to the back of Ann’s neck, pressing her cheek firmly against the door.

“Get, ah, get on with it then,” Ann panted. ”I want you in me.”

Lister smiled against Ann’s shoulder, the scent of Ann’s perfume enticing her to linger. She drew slow circles along Ann’s thigh, enjoying the tremble of muscles she felt and Ann’s uneven, breathy moans. And when she finally reached between Ann’s legs, she met only smooth, slick skin.

“Oh, Ann,” Lister whispered and nipped at her earlobe. “No underwear? You planned this, you tease.”

Ann breathed a laugh and then moaned when Lister slid her fingers through her wetness. “Oh, maybe.”

“You wanted my fingers where my cock was last night?” 

“Mmh, yes, oh god Anne…”

Lister closed her eyes, leaning against Ann, breathing hard. Oh, how lovely and divine Ann felt, sliding between her fingers, wet and ready and so perfect. She could almost taste her on her tongue, that sweet-tart flavour that was uniquely Ann. Lust screamed within her, suffusing her limbs with warmth.

Lister pressed her fingers against Ann’s clit and listened to the hitch in Ann’s breathing. She could tell Ann wanted to moan but she was being a good girl. 

“Quiet, remember, Ann. Hush.”

Lister sank her teeth into Ann’s tempting neck and at the same time, thrust three fingers into Ann. Ann convulsed against her and her mouth opened in a silent scream.

Lister leaned her head against Ann’s, pressing her more firmly against the door as she slid her fingers out and back in, Ann’s inner walls squeezing her so hard. 

”During dinner, did you think about my cock here?” Lister whispered. ”Remember how it felt yesterday?”

”Oh, Anne, yes…” Ann breathed, her voice unsteady.

”It was so big, almost too big,” Lister said and bit Ann’s earlobe. She shoved her fingers in Ann harder and heard the catch in Ann’s pained breathing. ”And it felt so good in you.”

”Oh god Anne,” Ann whined against the door. Her whole body twitched. ”So good…”

Ann’s hips were canting into every thrust and Lister matched that pace, faster and stronger. She let go of Ann’s neck and wound her other hand around Ann’s skirts, and then slid her fingers to circle Ann’s swollen clit. 

”Next time, I’m going to bend you over my desk and fuck you from behind with my cock,” Lister hissed into Ann’s ear. She rubbed Ann’s clit harder, rougher. ”With my fingers in your tight arse. You would like that, wouldn’t you?”

“Oh god, oh Anne, that’s…” Ann panted and then her words trailed into a moan of profound pleasure that she apparently could not hold back. Lister felt Ann’s sex flutter against her hands and all of Ann tensed as she rose into her release.

Lister held her through the convulsions, holding her breath. She wanted to see and hear and feel everything about the moment, press into her memories how Ann felt as she came. It was such a perfect moment, the look of rapture that crossed Ann’s face. 

When Ann came down from her high and relaxed against Lister, she slowly pulled her fingers out. Ann twitched with aftershocks and when she let her skirts fall back down, Lister saw that Ann’s hands were still shaking. Ann turned and leaned against the door, looking properly sated, her cheeks rosy and hair mussed. She took Lister’s hand and kissed the palm, then put Lister’s wet fingers into her mouth.

“Oh,” Lister said, surprised. 

“You taste better,” Ann said when she took the fingers out of her mouth. 

“I disagree,” Lister said and gathered Ann into her arms for a kiss. She tasted the lingering flavour of Ann in the kiss and it made her tremble with desire to taste more. “Should we go home to Shibden and settle the matter?”

Ann ran a finger along Lister’s jaw and smiled. “Coffee first and then we’ll go home. And when we get there, you can bend me over your desk.”


	14. Die by Pretty Lies

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “And how is the mining business, madam?” Jeremiah asked, pouring them tea.

Ann leaned her hands on the balustrade and looked down into the entrance hall at Shibden. The Rawson brothers. Pursing her lips, she regarded them, foppish and vainglorious in their silks. 

“I don’t understand why she wants to see us,” Jeremiah Rawson was saying. His voice echoed clearly in the cavernous room.

“That degenerate,” Christopher spat. “She has something up her sleeve and she wants to lord it over us. Fucking jack.”

“Mind your tongue, Rawson,” Ann called out to them. “You’re my cousin but I will not hesitate to let your mother know what you’ve said here.” 

Christopher Rawson started and looked up at her. “Well now. Cousin Ann. I don’t think you would. We’re family.”

“Anne is now my family. And I dare you to test me.” Ann paused and took a deep breath. She arranged a smug smile on her face. “Your mother is very fond of Mistress Lister, you recall.”

“Oh yes. So fond she sold her niece to her.”

Ann grasped the balustrade harder. Previously, she would have shrunk back, fearing disapproval from her family or perhaps just conflict. But she was not that Ann any more, she had decided. 

“Please refrain from commenting on matters you know nothing about - not that it has ever stopped you before, Christopher. My wife is ten times the gentleman you pretend that you are.”

Christopher Rawson opened his mouth, an obvious venomous retort on his tongue, but he stalled. Ann felt a hand on her lower back and then Lister came to stand next to her. 

“You are so sweet,” Lister whispered to her ear, and then she raised her voice. “Good morning, gentlemen. If you please. Tea is served.”

Ann glared at the Rawsons as they ascended the steps and went into the formal reception room. She didn’t sit at the table but instead, took one of the more comfortable chairs by the window and sat down with a book from Lister’s library. The mining business was Lister’s show and she didn’t want to get involved - but she wanted to be present for this because it involved her money. Ann opened the book and pretended to read while keeping her ears trained on the conversation at the table.

“And how is the mining business, madam?” Jeremiah asked, pouring them tea.

Lister steepled her fingers and sat back in her chair, across the table from the brothers. She was preternaturally calm but Ann knew that to be a facade. “Mmm. I’m sure you’ve heard about the pit collapse.”

Christopher tutted in sympathy. “Awful accident. But these things happen in mining. Dangerous business.”

Lister sipped her tea and eyed the brothers disdainfully. “Oh, come now. You’re smarter than this. I’m smarter than this.”

“What do you mean?”

“Your dangerous experimental digs from last year weakened the walls between the estuary and my tunnel. Most damningly and in clear violation of mining laws, you did not document your tunnelling. And now, my dig has been at standstill for five days and two of my people are incapacitated.”

Jeremiah paled. Christopher twitched, as if he was going to stand up. 

“Madam, take care with your unfounded accusations.”

“Unfounded?” Lister asked. Ann could see the dangerous gleam that came to her eyes. “Why, I find them quite well founded. I have geological survey scans dating back eighteen months. The ground penetration analyses are quite clear.”

Christopher grimaced. “What analyses would these be? I have no knowledge of such things and the magistrate has not informed that he’s running anything of the sort.”

“The ones that I run daily, across your land and mine. You really should take better care of your perimeter if you’ve not spotted my drones. Which, by the way, have an impeccable audit trail, so you cannot accuse me of falsifying data, either. So don’t try that,” Lister said and jabbed a finger at Christopher.

“You have no right to-”

“You should also know,” Lister said loudly, drowning out Christopher’s protests. “You should also know that as of two hours ago, I have submitted my proof to the magistrate’s court of Independent Ganymede. Right next door there,” she said in her normal voice, jabbing a thumb over her shoulder. “Judge Andersen is, I believe, taking a keen interest in the matter since he is good friends with Mr Washington, who nearly lost his arm in the accident.”

Christopher set his tea cup down too hard. “You didn’t.”

Lister smiled and it was the smile of a benevolent predator. She sipped her tea. “And what if I did?”

“That is… entirely unnecessary and an escalation of the worst sort.”

Lister laughed; it echoed in the high ceilings of the stone room. “You know, Christopher, I actually agree with you. And so, no, I did not submit my proof. Yet. I have a messenger standing by, though.”

The brothers glanced at each other for a long, tense moment of quiet. Ann held her breath. She could see Christopher’s nostrils flare in anger, his eyes blinking as he thought. 

“Very well then, you bastard. State your terms.”

Lister tossed a datapad to the table. It scraped along the smooth stone surface and came to a halt in front of the brothers. “My itemised list. Plus five percent for calling me a bastard. I am many things, including a degenerate,” Lister said with another white smile, “but I would prefer you not besmirch my bloodline, Rawson.”

Ann hid her smile behind her book; she had never seen Christopher Rawson’s face turn so many colours. 

“Is stealing the Walker money not enough for you, madam? Must you steal mine, too?”

The silence in the room was deafening. Ann could see the muscles on Lister’s cheek flutter, as if she were biting back unwise words. After a long moment Lister stood up tall and set her teacup down carefully. “Well. I do believe we are done,” she said. “While under my roof I recommend you do not question my wife’s agency, Rawson. It will not end well for you.”

Ann set her book down and leaned back into the plush cushions. She tried very hard not to laugh at her cousins who, for once, seemed at a loss for words. Christopher Rawson stormed out of the room, his brother running after him. The door to the foyer closed with a hiss and then all was quiet. 

Ann watched Lister, still standing by the table. She saw the sneer that curled her lip, the broad set of her shoulders under her formal jacket and coat, and the exhaustion that rimmed her eyes with red. Lister took a deep breath and Ann could see her visibly relax. 

“Ignorant fools.”

Smiling, Ann stood and came to stand next to Lister. She smoothed her palm down her back, black broadcloth warm and stiff against her hand. “Do you think they’ll pay you?”

“Voluntarily? Not in a million years. I actually did submit my findings to the magistrate’s court two hours ago so it doesn’t matter. When they get home there should be a court summons waiting for them. They’ll pay or get deported.”

Surprised, Ann laughed. “Remind me never to cross you, Anne.”

“Mmm. I have an awful reputation to maintain, you see.”

Ann hugged her with one arm and rested her head on Lister’s shoulder. “So what’s in the plans for the afternoon?”

“We’re re-starting Argus.” Lister wrapped her arm around Ann’s shoulders. “Do you want to come and see it? It’ll be dark and dirty but also quite entertaining.”

“An afternoon in a promethium mine?” Ann said and tsked. “Oh Anne. You take me to the nicest places.”

“Is that a yes?”

“Yes.”

* * *

Lister paused at the mouth of the pit and looked up at the sky. Behind the craggy mountain range, the full face of Jupiter dominated the sky, red and tempestuous. Stars faded into darkness around its marvel, so strong was the Sun’s distant light on it. Seven generations of Listers had stood in Jupiter’s light and she hoped she had made her ancestors proud.

With a sigh, Lister turned to the pit entrance and stepped into the enormous, dark maw. Her radiation meter started crackling but it was a slow, soothing sound. Her helmet torch came on and brightened a sphere of light into the dark space.

“Is the radiation strong? Down there?”

Lister paused and waited for Ann to catch up with her; Ann walked slower, not being used to the bulk of the mining armour. 

“Yes. Three to five minutes of exposure without the armour and you’re as good as dead. Of course, with negligible oxygen in the air and,” Lister said and checked her wrist display, “the temperature currently a balmy 140K, you would be dead before the radiation could kill you.”

“Lovely. Shall we?”

Because of the bulky gloves, Lister couldn’t take Ann’s hand. Instead, she jammed her fingers through the tool mesh at the shoulder of Ann’s armour and held her close that way as they walked down into the mountain. 

The main chamber had been pumped dry of ammonia and the far wall reinforced with portable scaffolding. The walls still showed pitting from the caustic bath but Argus shone like new against the far wall. Its enormous circular mass was lit with arc lights that gleamed off the grinding units; armoured people around Argus were doing their final checks. 

“Hello, Booth. How are you today?”

John Booth turned to face Lister, his helmet light momentarily blinding her until her face shield dimmed. “Guv’nor! Doing well, thank you. The doctor says I shouldn’t bang my noggin so hard so often, though.”

“Well, let’s avoid that from now on. Are we ready?”

Booth fiddled with the bulky control panel in his hands. “Almost. I’ll clear the deck. Would you like to do the honours, ma’am?”

“Yes. Thank you, Booth.”

Lister took the control panel from Booth and watched the rest of the miners climb down from Argus. The two exoskeleton diggers marched to stand by with liquid nitrogen hoses in case of overheating; Argus itself didn’t need a driver for it was a wholly self-guided apparatus, governed by an inhuman artificial intelligence. 

Lister thumbed the main switch on the panel. “Argus, status.”

_ “Good afternoon, Mistress Lister,”  _ Argus replied in its cool, genderless voice. “ _ System status nominal. Zero deviation.”  _

“Calibration?”

_ “Azimuth set. Approximate runtime projection is eighteen hours, nine minutes, two seconds.” _

“Very good, Argus. You are a go.”

_ “Thank you. Initiating startup sequence now.” _

Lister held her breath as she watched the boring heads turn, first slowly and then faster until they were a blur. The machine dug into the far wall, an immediate mist of pulverised rock enveloping it. Lister let out the breath she had been holding and again, pressed her palm against the wall next to her. In the thin air, no noise could be heard from Argus but even through her armoured glove, she felt the mountain tremble. 

“It’s… quite amazing.”

Lister turned to Ann again and smiled inside her helmet. She could still feel her new scar pull her face but it no longer pained her. “Argus is indeed amazing.”

“It’s also very dark and dirty here, like you promised.”

Lister twined her fingers into Ann’s harness again and pulled her closer. An idea struck her. “So. Would you… would you go on a trip with me tonight? Spend the night outside Shibden?”

“Your ideas sometimes scare me, Anne.”

“This one is a good one. I promise. Much nicer than a mining shaft.”

“That’s not a very high bar.”

Lister smiled and wiggled her fingers in Ann’s harness. Through Ann’s helmet visor, she could see the doubtful eyebrow Ann was giving her. “So is that a yes?” Lister asked.

“It’s not a no.”


	15. All That We Are, All That We Need

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “It’s just a small mountain. Have no fear.”

Frowning, Ann double-checked the air gauge of her exosuit. It was finally her own suit, shipped in from Cliff Hill, so at least it would fit well. But where on earth was Lister taking her?

Hefting her suit and her bag over her shoulder, Ann went down to the lowest level. She found Lister in the vehicle garage that was adjacent to the anteroom. In it, the structure of the troop carrier was quietly groaning as it warmed from the frigid surface temperatures. Lister stood close by in her obsidian exosuit, and next to her was her hoverbike. Ann stopped in her tracks.

“Oh no. Are we taking that?”

Lister came to take her bag, hefting it on her shoulder. “Have you ever been on a hoverbike?”

Ann looked at the large, rectangular bike that was essentially an enormous antigrav emitter strapped to a fusion engine. It was black and ominous-looking, looming taller than Ann, and the controls seemed so very flimsy to her.

“Uh, no.”

“You’re in for a treat, then,” Lister said with a grin. “Let’s go.”

Lister tossed Ann’s bag into the boot and slapped on her helmet, then gestured for Ann to get on with it. Pulling on her exosuit, Ann felt simultaneously apprehensive and curious. Lister did a graceful low-gravity jump up to the saddle of the bike and then pulled Ann up and behind her by the arm. Ann focused on breathing evenly as she settled astride the bike, her feet and arse magnetically clamped on the seat. She put her gloved hands on Lister’s waist, not so much for support but because she could.

“Ready?” Lister’s voice crackled in Ann’s helmet speakers.

“No, but let’s go anyway.”

Lister laughed and switched the engine on. The bike immediately shuddered and lurched into the air. Ann tensed in her seat, the raw power of the bike shivering through the frame and into her body, rattling her teeth. Lister guided the bike through the vast vehicle airlock and then they were out. Lister stepped on the accelerator and they shot off. 

There was little to no resistance from the thin exosphere but when they passed through a dust storm, Ann heard the loud hiss of silicate sand brushing against her helmet. She wiped her visor with her hand and then put it back on Lister’s waist. Lister was riding the bike with sure routine, helmeted head turning as she looked between her navigator panel and the scenery.

“So where are we going?”

Lister took one hand off the controls and pointed towards the horizon. “Up that mountain.”

“Up a mountain?” Ann repeated, alarmed.

“It’s just a small mountain. Have no fear.”

Not entirely assuaged, Ann squinted at the mountain range. It stood in stark relief against Jupiter’s red-white face; the peaks looked sharp and forbidding, not something for a quick evening jaunt. But they got to the peaks quicker than Ann had thought and when the bike accelerated up the first cliffside, Ann squeezed her eyes shut and held onto Lister as hard as she could with her clumsy exosuit gloves.

After a seeming eternity of climbing uphill, the bike levelled horizontal again and Ann forced her shoulders and arms to relax. She opened her eyes and when Lister slowed down to a halt, Ann breathed a sigh of relief.

“We’re here.”

Ann slid off the bike and took a moment to steady her knees. Straightening, she finally looked around. For a moment, she forgot to breathe. “Oh. Anne. Wow.”

They were on a high plateau, far above the plains. Below, the hard grooves of past tectonic activity were interspersed by meandering rivers and lakes of ammonia, darkly gleaming against the pale grey ground. This disjointed, violent, uniquely Ganymedean scenery stretched to the horizon for hundreds of miles; in the middle of the plain, Ann could just see the faint lights of Ganymede One. It was savage and vast, beautiful and deadly. 

Lister came to stand next to Ann and laid her hand on Ann’s shoulder. “Beautiful, isn’t it?”

“It is,” Ann breathed. “Are we… are we staying here?”

“Yes. Help me set up the habitat?”

Ann laughed. “Anyone ever tell you that you are a bit odd?”

“Often. My sister, at least daily.”

Together they unrolled the emergency habitat kit; it self-inflated to a transparent dome with an airlock and the lights came automatically on. Lister tossed in the bulky supply crates, light in the fractional gravity, and then they entered the airlock. Ann was glad to be out of her exosuit and when she got in to the habitat proper, she flopped down on the floor.

“Tired?” Lister asked, amused, as she took off her suit.

“No. That was frightening, that ride. I need to feel the ground for a bit.”

Lister smiled indulgently and made quick work of the inflatable beds. She then crouched and picked Ann up into her arms. 

“Well hello,” Ann said and ran her fingers along Lister’ jawline. She meant to say something more intelligent but she got lost in Lister’s eyes that were regarding her with such warmth and joy. 

“Fancy finding you here, Ann of clan Lister,” Lister said and smiled in a manner that turned Ann’s insides into a hot mess. “Come here often?”

“Well, I’m certainly hoping at least once or twice tonight.”

Lister snorted a laugh and tossed Ann onto the mattress. Ann bounced once and then Lister laid down on top of her, feeling feather light yet substantial when Ann wrapped her arms around her. Lister smoothed her knuckles down Ann’s cheek, just looking at her with a small smile for a moment, and then leaned in for a kiss. Ann’s eyes drooped closed when Lister’s lips slid across hers, slow and soft. It was a long, blissful kiss that Ann thought should go on until the morning.

When Lister broke the kiss, Ann made a displeased sound. Lister grinned at her and then rolled off Ann to her side.

“Hey now. What happened to coming here often?”

“We’ll get to that, you insatiable thing. I have something for you,” Lister said and reached into her pockets. “Here.”

Ann lifted herself up on her elbow. The small pouch Lister gave her had something hard and angular inside it. “What is it?”

“Well see for yourself, silly.”

Ann shook the pouch and into her palm fell an iridescent star-shaped pin. Ann turned it in her hand, counting fourteen star points, each a thin metal shape of varying length. There was a pattern etched on each arm.

“It’s beautiful, Anne. But what is it?”

Lister laid back down and smiled at Ann. “It’s the location of Mars, in relation to the fourteen pulsars we use for deep space navigation. Including the periods of the pulsars,” Lister said, running a finger across the engraved pattern. Her voice was warm and low. “It’s made from niobium I mined on Mars, oh, must have been fifteen years ago.”

Ann felt like her heart was suddenly too full. “Anne. Are you sure you want to give it to me?” she asked, her voice small and suddenly hoarse.

Lister smiled at her and reached out to swipe her thumb across Ann’s lower lip. “Of course I do. It’s nothing. But I wanted to give you something of mine to keep with you. And, hold on,” Lister said and twisted around to the habitat controls. “I want to show you something. Come here.”

Lister switched off the internal lights of the habitat dome and suddenly they were plunged into darkness. Only the pale red glow behind the mountain range and the endless starfield gave their wan light. Ann shifted closer, resting her head on Lister’s chest and looking up at the sky. It felt as if she were floating in space, nothing but the depth of space in her field of vision. She held the star-shaped pin against her chest, the metal now warm to touch.

“It’s so beautiful.”

“Over there, four degrees down from Polaris. That sliver of red, that’s Mars. We’re nearing the conjunction so it’s very close now.”

Ann searched the sky, knowing what to look for. It took her a minute but she finally spotted the dark void, rimmed by red. “I see it.”

“I spent years on Mars when I was younger, learning the mining trade. It’s so beautiful and so hostile, in ways that are vastly different from Ganymede. Have you ever been to Mars?”

Ann sighed and relaxed against Lister. She was mesmerised by the stars, seemingly so close but so mind-bendingly far away. “No, never.”

“Mmm. I would like to take you to Mars for our honeymoon, Ann. If I may.”

Ann’s heart skipped a beat. She rose up to sit, looking down at Lister. She was in shadows, only the faintest light burnishing the smooth planes of her face. The starfield reflected in her dark eyes. “Really? When?”

Lister smiled. “As soon as possible,” she said and took Ann’s hand. She pressed it on her chest and Ann could feel her strong, steady heartbeat. “We have all the time in the world but none to lose.”

“I know,” Ann whispered. “I almost lost you.”

Lister exhaled and in the shadows, Ann could see her expression tense. “When the pit collapsed… Ann, I almost drowned in there and it was…”

Ann kissed Lister’s forehead, giving her time. “You don’t have to talk about it if you don’t want to.”

“It was darkness, pure and absolute,” Lister said quietly. “At least on the surface there is always starlight, Jupiter, something. Nothing in the mine except darkness. Up is down and down is up. And you know, the first and only thing I thought of when the wave took me was - you. That I’d lost you, and I had only just found you.”

Affection bloomed in Ann, soft and warm in her chest. “Those were some of the longest hours of my life, waiting for news from the rescue team.”

“I know. So now, I don’t want to waste any time,” Lister said and squeezed Ann’s hand against her chest. “You are my wife, Ann. I would like to treat you like one from now on. Make the most and best of us.”

“Oh, you,” Ann whispered. She leaned down, the stars seemingly shining bright inside her as well. “I do think I love you, Anne of clan Lister,” she murmured against Lister’s lips and then kissed her.

* * *

_Fin._


End file.
